Mahatma Gandhi

30, Jan. 1948 in Delhi’s Birla House Mahatma Gandhi was assasinated by Nathuram Godse, an angry Hindu that considered Gandhi’s non-violent policies treasonous. Godse and his accomplices considered Gandhis non-violent was tresonous because they thought he was appeasing Muslims and aiding to the suffering of Hindus by doing this. In reality the times after India’s freedom from Great Britain were very turbulant. Both Hindu and Muslim were going at each other and nearly a million people died in riots before India and Pakistan had partitioned. The partitioning was something Gandhi was deeply oppossed to and he stated “Before partitioning India, my body will have to be cut into two pieces.” Though he later realized that an even bloodier civil war could erupt if India was to stay a single nation and encouraged the Congress Party to accept the partition. After he saw the damage that had been done in the fighting between Hindus and Muslims Gandhi went on another venture into non-violent protest and went on a hunger strike. He stated that he would not end the hunger strike until the violence stopped and India gave 550 million Rupees it was withholding to Pakistan. This action led to his passing at the age of 78 when he was shot three times by Nathuram Godse as we was on his way to a prayer meeting. Gandhi was a man who lived and died for peace. In doing so he became an immortal martyr and though it is sad to say, may have been worth more dead than alive. To this day people who support peace in the world don T-shirts and bumperstickers that repeat the words of Gandhi and bear his likeness. That is because his message was not only for India. It is the wisdom of a country that for most is undiscovered but there are those who can find peace and share it with others. One day peace will no longer be an undiscovered country but until then the words of the great man will be left as they should be, to the ages.