Mahatma Gandhi began political work in South Africa after arriving there as a lawyer in 1893. Experiences of discrimination led him to organize Indian residents against restrictive laws. He helped establish associations, newspapers, and campaigns that developed satyagraha, disciplined resistance based on nonviolence and willingness to accept punishment. His early positions often privileged Indian claims and included prejudiced views of Black Africans; later admiration for his methods should not erase those limitations.

Returning to India in 1915, Gandhi organized campaigns at Champaran, Kheda, and Ahmedabad and became a central figure in the Indian National Congress. The Non-Cooperation Movement from 1920 encouraged withdrawal from colonial institutions and promotion of locally produced cloth. He suspended the campaign after violence at Chauri Chaura in 1922, demonstrating that its method mattered as well as its political aim. Imprisonment, village work, and campaigns against untouchability became recurring features of his public life, although his approach to caste brought serious disagreement with B. R. Ambedkar.

The Salt March in 1930 challenged the British monopoly and launched a wider civil disobedience campaign. Gandhi negotiated with the viceroy and attended the Round Table Conference in London, but no immediate settlement secured independence. His practice of fasting sought to influence both colonial policy and relations within Indian society, drawing admiration as well as criticism over moral pressure. In 1942 he called for Quit India, and British authorities imprisoned him and other Congress leaders during the war.

As independence approached, Gandhi opposed the division of India and sought to reduce violence between religious communities. The creation of India and Pakistan in 1947 was accompanied by devastating displacement and killings. He traveled and fasted to support reconciliation rather than taking a government office in the new state. Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist, assassinated him in Delhi in January 1948. His career helped make mass nonviolent action a powerful instrument against colonial rule and influenced later movements abroad. His achievements coexist with disputes over race, caste, gender, and the authority he exercised within reform movements. His lasting significance lies in both the mobilization he led and the continuing arguments about the ethical and political limits of his methods.