This day in history | The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi
Shemar-Leslie Louisy / Our Today
On this day in 1948, Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian independence activist, was assassinated on his way to a prayer meeting in New Dehli by Hindu extremist Nathuram Godse over his disagreement with Ghandi’s views on Hindu-Muslim unity.
Ghandi was a leader in the Indian National Congress and advocated for non-violent civil disobedience as a means of resistance. He led numerous nonviolent protests and strikes, including the Salt March in 1930 and the Quit India Movement in 1942 and became known as the “Father of a Nation”.
The scale and success that he brought to the philosophy of non-violent resistance and the tactics he employed served as an inspiration for freedom movements accross the world such as by Martin Luther King Jr in the American civil rights movement in the 1950s and 60s, by Nelson Mandela and other activists during the Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa.
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