Gandhi Jayanti 2027 गांधी जयंती

Why Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated

Gandhi Jayanti honours Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known to Indians as Bapu and the Father of the Nation. He led India's freedom struggle with two simple but strong ideas: satya, which means truth, and ahimsa, which means non-violence. He showed that ordinary people, by refusing to cooperate with injustice and by accepting suffering without hitting back, could move one of the most powerful empires in the world. In 2026 India marks his 157th birth anniversary.

His message went beyond politics. Gandhi asked people to live simply, to spin and wear khadi, to respect manual work, to keep their surroundings clean and to treat all religions with equal respect. He fought against untouchability and worked for the rights of women and villagers. These ideas shape public life in India even today, from the Swachh Bharat Mission, launched on his birthday in 2014, to campaigns for self-reliance and village industry.

The world shares the day too. In 2007 the United Nations General Assembly declared 2 October the International Day of Non-Violence, and leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. and Nelson Mandela drew on his methods in their own struggles. The same date is also the birth anniversary of Lal Bahadur Shastri, India's second Prime Minister, who gave the slogan Jai Jawan Jai Kisan.

History and story of Gandhi Jayanti

Gandhi was born on 2 October 1869 in Porbandar, a coastal town in Gujarat, to Karamchand Gandhi and Putlibai. He married Kasturba at the age of thirteen, studied law in London and returned to India as a barrister. In 1893 he went to South Africa for a legal case. There he was thrown off a train at Pietermaritzburg because of his skin colour, an insult that changed his life. Over the next twenty years he organised the Indian community against unjust laws and developed his method of peaceful resistance, which he named satyagraha.

He came back to India in January 1915. His first major campaigns, for indigo farmers in Champaran in 1917 and for peasants in Kheda in 1918, won him national attention. He then led the Non-Cooperation Movement of 1920, the Salt March from Sabarmati to Dandi in 1930, when he walked nearly 390 km to make salt from sea water in defiance of the salt tax, and the Quit India Movement of 1942 with its call of Do or Die. He spent many years in prison.

When freedom came in 1947 along with Partition, Gandhi did not join the celebrations. He was in Bengal, working to stop communal violence. On 30 January 1948 he was shot dead in Delhi while going to his evening prayer meeting. That date is now observed as Martyrs' Day.

How Gandhi Jayanti is celebrated

The day begins at Raj Ghat in Delhi, the memorial where Gandhi was cremated. The President, Vice President, Prime Minister and other leaders lay flowers and attend a prayer meeting with readings from many faiths. His favourite bhajans, Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram and Vaishnav Jan To, are sung. Leaders also visit Vijay Ghat to remember Lal Bahadur Shastri.

Across the country, schools and colleges hold essay and speech competitions, quiz contests and plays on Gandhi's life, though many hold these on the day before since campuses are closed on the day itself. Cleanliness drives are organised in offices, parks and villages, often as the closing day of a fortnight of Swachhata activities. Khadi stores often offer special discounts around this time, and many people buy khadi as a tribute. Prayer meetings and charkha spinning sessions are held at Gandhi ashrams and memorials.

Most states treat 2 October as a dry day, when liquor shops stay closed, in keeping with Gandhi's lifelong opposition to alcohol.

Gandhi Jayanti across India

Gujarat holds major events at Porbandar, where his birthplace Kirti Mandir stands, and at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, from where the Salt March began. Sevagram near Wardha in Maharashtra, where he lived from 1936, holds prayers and spinning sessions. The Gandhi Memorial Museum in Madurai and Gandhi Smriti in Delhi, the place of his death, also see many visitors.

Uttarakhand has its own link. In June 1929 Gandhi spent about two weeks at Kausani in Bageshwar district, admiring the view of the Himalayan peaks. There he wrote the introduction to Anasakti Yoga, his commentary on the Bhagavad Gita. The building where he stayed is now known as Anasakti Ashram and holds prayers and programmes on Gandhi Jayanti. In Dehradun, schools, government offices and Gandhian groups hold prayer meetings, cleanliness work and tributes at Gandhi statues in the city.