30 January 1948 saw the assassination of M.K. Gandhi (aged 78) by a radical Hindu, Nathuram Godse. Godse is believed to have thought him too tolerant towards Muslims and to have had links to Hindu extremists Mahasabha and Narayan Apte. These and many other Hindus held Gandhi responsible for weakening India by insisting on a payment to Pakistan.

Gandhi was a major spiritual and political leader in India and the pioneer of Satyagraha (resistance to tyranny through mass civil disobedience), founded on a policy of non-violence. He came up with the Satyagraha philosophy and led his first Passive Resistance campaign in 1906 in South Africa where he lived as a young man.

On his return to India Gandhi led national campaigns for human rights and the independence of India from Britain. He was shot and killed while taking his nightly public walk through the grounds of Birla Bhavan in New Delhi, India. Godse and his co-conspirator Narayan Apte were executed on 15 November 1949. Millions of people around the world mourned with India and contributed to creating the legend of the Mahatma.

Sources

1. Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand: with his granddaughters (online). Available at: britannica.com (Accessed 21 January, 2009)
2. Joyce, P (1999). A Concise Dictionary of South African Biography, Francolin Publishers, Cape Town, p96.
3. Mohandas (aka Mahatma) Gandhi (online). Available at: prominentpeople.co.za (Accessed 21 January, 2009) 
4. On this day, Friday Jnauary 30. (online).  Available at: hnews24.com (Accessed 21 January, 2009) 
5. Gandhi, MK. (online). Available at:sahistory.org.za (Accessed 21 January, 2009)