The two chief figures in India’s struggle for independence from British rule, Mohandas K. Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, liked and respected each other. Despite their shared goals, however, their visions of an independent India differed in several ways. In the end, neither man’s hope for his country was fully realized. Gandhi gained leadership of the Quit-India movement with his method of social change called satyagraha, or “truth force.” Nonviolent resistance to British rule, said Gandhi, was the right way to gain independence. Acts of violence would only be net with greater violence. Peaceful refusal to submit to injustice, on the other hand, would show the British that the Indians’ cause was just. The power of nonviolence would lead the British to leave the country willingly.

Gandhi wanted India to become a nation in which spirituality was the highest good. Indian life would be focused on small villages. There, simple means of livelihood, such as farming and the spinning of cloth, would be prevalent. People would take care of their own and treat one another fairly. Without pressure to create wealth, they would be free to grow spiritually. To Gandhi it was vital that India avoid the ways of Western industrial society, which he believed were based on greed and robbed people of their dignity.

Inspired by Gandhi’s leadership, Nehru quickly became one of his most loyal followers. Their partnership grew despite the fact that Nehru called Gandhi’s vision for India “completely unreal.” Nehru valued technology and wanted India to become a modern world power. He shared Gandhi’s hatred of social injustice. However, his solution was not to reject the production of wealth but to ensure that the wealth was shared fairly among the entire population.

India achieved independence in 1947. Nehru became the country’s first prime minister. Less than a year later, Gandhi was dead, killed by an assassin. His legacy of nonviolent resistance to social injustice would inspire future leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr., in the United States. During his almost 20 years in office, Nehru was able to guide India to a powerful position on the world stage under a democratic, parliamentary system of government. However, Nehru met with many social and political obstacles to his economic programs. As a result, many of the problems that both he and Gandhi had believed could be solved by independence – poverty, hunger, and disease remained.

1. From the passage one can conclude that the struggle for Indian independence
A. was easily won
B. required discipline and sacrifice
C. called for military superiority
2. The main difference between Nehru’s and Gandhi’s beliefs involved each man’s ideas about
A. why British rule was unjust
B. how liberation from the British should be accomplished
C. what the roles of technology and modernization should be after achieving independence
3. In comparing Gandhi’s and Nehru’s visions for India, one might say that
A. Gandhi wanted peace, and Nehru saw war as the answer
B. Gandhi primarily south spiritual development, and Nehru primarily sought material development
C. Gandhi resisted imperial rule, and Nehru fought for personal power
4. Gandhi’s belief in his concept of satyagraha would be successful suggests that he saw the British as
A. cruel monsters
B. greedy and selfish
C. basically sensible