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Well Known Historical Leader


1.  I was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbunder in what is known today as Gujarat, India


2.  I was married at 14 in a traditional childhood marriage to Kasturbai Makhanji.  Our first child was born a year later, but died shortly after birth


3.  In September 1888 I left India for London where I studied Law.   In June 1891 I was called to the British Bar and enrolled in the High Court.  I returned to India the next day.


4.  On my arrival in India I met Raychandbhai whom I regarded as my Guru


5.  In April 1893 I took a job in South Africa

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6.  In June 1893 on an overnight train trip to Johannesburg I was forced out of my first class compartment because I was not white and spent the (winters) night at the station in Pietermaritzburg. Following this and other events I spent the next 20 years fighting to better Indian's rights in South Africa



7.  To show the British that the Indians were just as strong and capable as them I organised an Indian medical corps in the Boer War.  Myself and 37 other Indian volunteers received the War Medal for their efforts.


8.  In 1915 I returned permanently to India where I joined the Indian National Congress.  I became the leader of that organisation in 1920 and started to push, using non-cooperation, non-violence and peaceful resistance, for independence from Britain


9.  I was opposed to the separation of India on religious lines, but the Muslim League (which wanted a separate Muslim state) supported the British Viceroy's unilateral decision to support Britain in WW1


10.  I was assassinated in the garden of the former Birla House at 5:17 PM on 30 January 1948, while on my way to address a prayer meeting.

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References:
Wikipedia
Ref 2
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