Why We Celebrate Gandhi Jayanti
Few people who have walked this planet have made an impact as huge as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. A bald, lanky, shirtless, bespectacled man from India, Gandhi was the anchor of India’s struggle for freedom from British rule. Today the entire nation is paying tribute to Bapu on his birth anniversary.
While the first mass revolt against the British rule took place in 1857, it was nothing as massive as that led by Mahatma Gandhi, the honorific that is now used worldwide. He led an army of millions all bound by two principles — truth and non-violence. Gandhi started a number of relentless movements to reach the final goal that was freedom and the same was achieved for India on August 15, 1947. It was only fitting that the title of ‘Mahatma’ was conferred upon this great Indian leader.
Born on October 2, 1869, in Porbandar, Gujarat, the nation is all geared up to celebrate Gandhi’s birthday. The day is to commemorate his birth as well as celebrate his life that serves as a guiding path for several people in India as well as across the world. October 2 is celebrated as Gandhi Jayanti and as the International Day of Non-violence worldwide.
Gandhi may have not been a martyr in the true sense but he dedicated his entire life to attaining freedom by resisting violence.
Gandhi Jayanti is a national holiday in India. It is one of the three national holidays of India, others being Republic Day on January 26 and Independence Day on August 15. Many people celebrate Gandhi’s birthday by offering prayers and participating in services in his memory.
IDEOLOGIES OF THE MAHATMA
1.Gandhi’s philosophy and his ideologies of Satya (truth) and Ahimsa (non-violence) were influenced by the Bhagavad Gita and the Hindu beliefs, the Jain religion and the pacifist Christian teachings of Leo Tolstoy.
2. A vegetarian and a follower of the Hindu idea of Brahmacharya (spiritual and practical purity) he spent one day of each week in silence. He believed that abstaining from speaking brought him inner peace, an influence drawn from the Hindu principles of Mouna (silence) and Shanti (peace).
3.Returning from South Africa, Gandhi gave up wearing Western-style clothing, which he associated with wealth and success. He advocated the use of homespun cloth (khadi). He and his followers adopted the practice of weaving their own clothes from thread. They themselves spun, and encouraged others to do so. The spinning wheel was later incorporated in the flag of the Indian National Congress.
4.He philosophy and way of life in his autobiography ‘The Story of my Experiments with Truth’.
5.The Constitution of India, through the fundamental rights, granted equality before the law to all citizens of India. It prohibits discrimination on the grounds of caste, religion, race, sex or birth and abolishes untouchability. India follows the values of truth and nonviolence even as the country’s democratic set-up represents the ideal of Swaraj.
6. He used Satyagraha as a means to improve the condition of people and bring about social justice in areas such as universal education, women’s rights, communal harmony, eradication of poverty, promotion of khadi and so on.
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