this paper reviews Gandhi's personality. Several factors depict the uniqueness of the personality of Gandhi. His actually personality was clearly depicted when the non-cooperation campaign failed and he started the Salt March or trial. He became successful in uniting Muslims and Hindus of India for attaining the common motive of getting a separate homeland free from the clutches of the British. Gandhi's methods of Satyagraha are depicted through several events and could easily be learned by the people.
Mahatma Gandhi was a great leader who dreamt of making India an independent state, which would be free from the British rule. From 1917 to 1947, Mahatma Gandhi has been a great leader and has worked to make his dream true. His non-co-operation movements and the famous Salt March are few examples of his life which are significant enough to express his identity (Metcalf and Metcalf, 2006).
Gandhi had very aggressive nationalist facts (Metcalf and Metcalf, 2006). A number of characteristics were preserved by Gandhi during his leadership regime. One of such characteristic was Satyagraha. Apart from Satyagraha, many other actions were also taken by Gandhi to obtain independence and to join up India. Great commitment was given by Gandhi on Satyagraha, which showed that he did not want violence despite of the fact that he was a fighter who was fighting for the rights of his people. At first Gandhi lived completely according to the English culture, he even dressed like them. He obtained his education from London. But his life was pretty adaptive towards change. The books that he read influenced him a lot specially some of the quotes. There was one English quote which he inspired a lot, and that quote was one of the reasons why he chose a simple life ahead. He began working in the farm with those people who were considered as low cast in the Hindu culture (the untouchables). He started believing that hard work is the key to success. He also started believing that people desire for things just because other people also have them. Not just this, there were other changes as well which were seen in his life in the upcoming years. And all the changes made it clear that he was a man who was open for changes (Metcalf and Metcalf, 2006).
It was not only reading that transformed Gandhi's life completely but there were other things as well which brought about a change. Gandhi visited Champaran in 1917, and there he saw injustice taking place with the rural people. The rural were selling indigo plants at higher prices, but they were not getting any benefit out of it. This was happening because of the British who were taking benefit out of the incomes of these poor people. This practice was further increasing the poverty rate. Gandhi decided to fight for these people. But before taking any initiative he learned to talk and dress up like the rural people. This initiative changed his looks completely. From that time onwards he started to dress up totally in a traditional manner. His new dressing style became a trademark of his personality (Metcalf and Metcalf, 2006).
Satyagraha is not just a term but a reflection of Gandhi's personality. The meaning of Satyagraha is non-violence. In September of 1906, Gandhi called up a meeting at Empire Theatre. This theatre is located in Johannesburg, South Africa. The sole purpose of this meeting was to tell people that physical fighting is not a good option. At first this move was known as passive resistance but later Gandhi renamed it as Satyagraha. According to Gandhi the previous name could have been used in misleading terms because of its literal meaning. Gandhi elaborated the term Satyagraha, and told people that it represents love and truth. Satyagraha took the form of political protest but very soon it included other set of laws within it like self suffering and bravery. Gandhi used this combination as a weapon to win independence. This weapon soon took the form of a non-violent persuasion. Most importantly, these elements highlighted Gandhi's personality in future (Metcalf and Metcalf, 2006).
Examples and Explanations of leadership Qualities
Gandhi used to make use of Holy Books to preach the Indians who were living in South Africa. These books were Gandhi's inspiration and they played a major role in changing his life. When Gandhi was travelling to South Africa he came across Pretoria, where he faced racial discrimination. During the journey, a white British asked Gandhi to leave the first class seat of the train and move to the third class one or he would be thrown out. When Gandhi showed reluctance, then he was escorted out of the train. This was for the first time that Gandhi witnessed such a racial discrimination at the hands of the British and this made him very irritated. In the light of holy books (both Islamic and Christians) Gandhi decided to stand up against this discrimination. Many of Gandhi's Hindu friends supported him in the fight which was being fought against racism. Gandhi's personality was greatly affected by these fights and finally he initiated an Ashram, near Durban. Gandhi lived in this Ashram (small farm) to experience a farmer's life. At farm he noticed that a lot of hard work is involved in farming and eventually it is the hard work only that brings success and bounty for others in future (Gandhi, 1990).
When Gandhi's Non-Cooperation Movement failed that was started in 1922, he started following Satyagraha footsteps because of his amity loving nature. The failure of the campaign was the main reason behind this act. After this an extermination event occurred at Chauri Chaura in which the Indians were blamed to attack on police property and were charged on burning 22 British servants. At that time Gandhi gave himself under the police custody on 16th of February. Therefore, Gandhi had to end the Non-Cooperation Movement because this event became a big hurdle in running that campaign. He failed to make Indians aware about the main essence of that non-violence movement. Gandhi was a brave leader he bravely accepted the charges and that they were involved in violence and ask the British officers to punish them strictly as per the law. He never asked for forgiveness to prove his party was against the violence. In spite of being in prison he kept on fighting for freedom from British Government and raised his voice against the violence. In Gandhi's opinion, the one who asks for forgiveness and mercy is a coward. His punishment was reduced on his attitude by the government magistrate (Gandhi, 1990).
Level Gandhi was a level 5 Leader
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