d. In Bengal reports of Muslim atrocities came. Gandhi went into these towns for four months trying to persuade people to stop the violence. But these riots became common. In 1947, Lord Louis Mountbatten became the last British Viceroy. Against Gandhi’s opposition, the Indian National Congress agreed that Pakistan was to become a separate Muslim nation from India. India finally gained independence in 1947. Meanwhile, Gandhi was living in the poorest quarters of Calcutta, where there were many bloodsheds and riots between the Hindus and Muslims. Gandhi succeeded in making peace in Bengal; the northwest was in a bad situation. People were migrating to and from India and Pakistan. Millions of people died. Riots broke out again in Calcutta and Gandhi held his longest fast until the fighting stopped. Dramatically it brought peace among all leaders and violence ceased in India and Pakistan. Though Gandhi was admired deeply by many of people, there were some Hindu fanatics. On January 30, 1948 he was murdered-shot three times by an assassin named Nathuram Godse. His death caused a worldwide shock and sorrow. “To countless people, he was a modern-day saint, a teacher of humanity such as the world has rarely seen. As a champion of peace, his influence still remains.” (Hunter, 29)The struggles of other Asian and African nations to gain independence from colonial powers have been influenced by his work. In the United States, Dr. Martin Luther King, the black civil rights leader, paid tribute to Gandhi’s example and created hi own American Satyagraha to protest legalized racial discrimination. Like Gandhi, King could not in the end avoid outbreaks of violence and rioting, and like Gandhi, was assassinated. Through an academy award-winning movie by Richard Attenborough, Gandhi’s life and work has inspired the new generation. Gandhi is not going to be forgotten. “In the age we live in, with t...
