India Seeks Self-Rule teachings.
By these teaching, he started to
-By Mark Galela
In Amritsar, Indians that were
displeased with the British rule began
uprising and attacks on British locals. The
British responded to this by killing and
injuring about 1,500 Indians. It was on
April 3, 1919, a large group of Indians
gathered at a field to hold a public meeting,
which was banned by the British. While the
Indians leaders spoke, General Reginald
Dyer order his troops to shoot at the
defenseless crowed. This came to be known
as the Amritsar massacre, a sign to the
Indians that they needed to become
independent.
Before, the Indian National Congress
party was asking self-rule from the British,
but now after the recent event, they sought
freedom. However, the Congress party was
composed of the middle class and Western-
educated who had different ideas than the
majority of Indian peasants. A new leader
by the name of Mohandas Gandhi appeared
and solved this problem by bringing together
Indians amongst different classes.
Amritsar massacre
The Power of Nonviolence
Many of Gandhi’s ideas came from
religion, philosophy of others and were
influenced by Western and Indian ways. He
welcomed Hindu traditions and Christian
believe that by using love, people could lead
the offenders down the right path. Gandhi
also promoted the use of nonviolent protests.
He was also influenced by Henry David
Thoreau’s philosophy about civil
disobedience. He fought for equality
amongst Indians and to do away with the
unfairness for untouchables. In order to put
his ideas into action, he appealed for the
Indians to boycott British goods. His refusal
to British laws had gained him wide support.
Gandhi Takes a Stand: The Salt March
To gather support, Gandhi resisted
the British salt monopoly. The government
required the Indians to buy salt from the
British, even though there was natural salt
located in the sea. Gandhi, along with his
78 followers, made a 240-mile march out to
the sea. As they passed by villages, groups
of people joined along in the march. Once
they had reached their destination, their
numbers had increased to the thousands.
Gandhi then went into the sea to pick up a
lump of salt and was shortly jailed after.
However, Indians continued to follow
Gandhi’s ways even after his arrest. They
began gathering salt from the sea and selling
them in the streets. As support grew, so did
the arrests of Indians.
Salt March
Summary: After the Amritsar massacre,
nationalism untied Indian people from all
over. They fought to gain rights and
boycotted British goods. Nationalism
increased stability because the Indians led
peaceful protests and in time they were
slowly able to gain some independence.