Thus spoke the thinker: Mahatma Gandhi facts

MAHATMA GANDHI

· MOHANDAS KARAMCHAND GANDHI IS ALSO KNOWN AS MAHATMA (GREAT SOUL) GANDHI. HE WAS FIRST CALLED SO BY NOBEL LAUREATE RABINDRANATH TAGORE. HE IS CALLED AS THE ‘FATHER OF NATION’ IN OUR COUNTRY AND HE WAS FIRST CALLED BY NETAJI SUBHASH CHANDRABOSE.

· THE MAHATMA WAS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL 2O TH CENTURY LEADERS WHO TAUGHT PEACE. HE SHOWED A WAY OF STRUGGLE TO PROMINENT INDIANS AND OTHER LEADERS LIKE NELSON MANDELA, AND MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.

· HE WAS RECOGNISED AS ONE OF THE THREE MOST INFLUENTIAL MEN OF THE 20 TH CENTURY BY TIME MAGAZINE.

· MAHATMA GANDHI’S STAMPS CAN BE FOUND IN 80 COUNTRIES, MORE THAN ANY OTHER FAMOUS PERSONALITY.

· THOUGH BEING SUCH AN INFLUENTIAL LEADER, HE NEVER HELD HUGE POSITIONS. HE ONLY WALKED AMOND THE MASSES.

· HE HAD VERY FEW POSSESSIONS, A POCKET WATCH NEAR HIS WAIST AND TWO CLOTHS. WINSTON CHURCHILL EVEN CALLED HIM “THE HALF NAKED FAKIR”

· WHEN ALL INDIANS WERE REJOICING AFTER INDEPENDENCE, SOME WERE STILL STRUGGLING BECAUSE OF THE PARTITION. HE FASTED. MOUNTBATTEN SAID, “THOUGH OUR TROOPS HAVE OVER 55000 NEAR PUNJAB, WE ARE NOT ABLE TO STOP RIOTING. WE HAVE ONLY ONE PERSON (GANDHI) IN BENGAL, BUT THERE IS NO RIOTING.”

· GANDHI JAYANTHI (OCTOBER 2^ND) IS RECOGNISED AS INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY BY THE UN.

· MAHATMA GANDHI WAS NOMINATED FOR THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE FIVE TIMES, BUT NEVER RECEIVED IT.

· ALBERT EINSTEIN ONCE SAID, “GENERATIONS TO COME WILL SCARCE BELIEVE THAT SUCH A ONE AS THIS EVER IN FLESH AND BLOOD WALKED UPON THIS EARTH.

WE ARE PROUD TO BE BORN IN A LAND IN WHICH GANDHIJI WALKED.