Gandhi Jayanti celebrates a man’s birth and a new philosophy and concept that Gandhi brought into the world. No one ever advocated peace and non-violence as loud as him.
The day is celebrated worldwide with great enthusiasm to commemorate his teachings. The United Nations declared 2nd October the International Day of Non-violence in 2007. This day is a public holiday throughout India, and all public offices and institutions are shut.
Many events are organized to celebrate the birth of this great Indian leader who advocated peace and non-violence and practiced them throughout his life. Even when detained and often wounded for his protests, he never lost patience and promoted the importance of truth and non-violence. Several of his protests, like the Satyagrah, Khilafata movement, Dandi March, and Khadi movement, followed these concepts, and surprisingly, all were successful.
According to Gandhi, one must use peace to achive peace. You cannot form a peaceful society with violent revolts and protests. So, none of his protests ever used or promoted violence. In 1922, Gandhiji even called off the Non-cooperation movement when protestors became violent and set up a police station on fire, popularly known as the Chaura Chauri incident. His belief stated, “just means lead to just ends.” His peaceful way of protesting inspired the American Civil Rights Movement and many other movements around the world.
People of all castes and religions love Gandhi. Though many may feel that he was too kind on the side of Pakistan, his idea of brotherhood is known to the world. When he returned to India, he supported the Khilafat movement strongly to bring together the Hindus and Muslims who were division would make independence impossible. Gandhi’s book The Way to Communal Harmony is popular to date. He even worked hard to remove the curse of untouchability from Indian society, and for this, he even asked his wife to clean a toilet and set up an example among the masses. Gandhi himself stated, “I do not want India to be wholly Hindu, holy Islamic and wholly Christian but wholly tolerant with all its religions coexisting and flourishing.”
Gandhi Jayanti – History
Gandhi was shot dead on 30th January 1948, and since that year, 2nd October was declared a national holiday by the Government of India to pay homage to the father of the nation. Gandhi led the non-cooperation movement in India’s freedom struggle and became a source of inspiration for many great leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr.
Gandhi Jayanti – International Day of Non-violence
On June 15th, 2007, Anand Sharma, Minister of State for External Affairs, declared 2nd October the International Day of Non-violence on behalf of the United Nations. The 140 cosponsors unanimously agreed to the idea proposed by Iranian Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi. Since then, this day has been celebrated to promote Gandhian philosophies among the masses and make the world peaceful.
