Gandhi brought Satyagraha to India in 1915, and was soon elected to the Indian National Congress political party.
- Rowlatt Act – He began to push for independence from the United Kingdom, and organized resistance to 1919 law that gave British authorities unauthorised powers to imprison suspected revolutionaries without trial. Britain responded brutally to the resistance, harmed and killed numerous unarmed protesters in the Amritsar Massacre.
- Gandhi then pushed even harder for home rule, encouraging boycotts of British goods and organizing mass protests.
- Salt Satyagraha/Civil Disobedience Moment – In 1930, he began a massive satyagraha campaign against a British law that forced Indians to purchase British salt instead of producing it locally. Gandhi organized a 241-mile-long protest march to the west coast of Gujarat, where he and his companions harvested salt on the shores of the Arabian Sea. In response, Britain imprisoned over 60,000 peaceful protesters and inadvertently generated even more support for home rule.
- Imprisoned for a year because of the Salt March, he became more influential than ever. He protested discrimination against the “untouchables,” India’s lowest caste, and negotiated unsuccessfully for Indian home rule.
- Undeterred, he began the Quit India movement, a campaign to get Britain to voluntarily withdraw from India during World War II. Britain refused and arrested him yet again.
- Huge demonstrations occurred due to his arrests but the balance finally tipped toward Indian independence. Gandhi was released from prison in 1944, and Britain at last began to make plans to withdraw from the Indian subcontinent.
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