Why was Gandhiji more popular than other leaders

(a) When Gandhi returned from South Africa in 1915 he was the first to regard India as one unit which was not the case with other leaders of that time.

(b) Gandhiji was the first to recognize that the cause and challenges of getting independence, the Hindu – Muslim unity and caste inequality prevalent at that time are all interlinked with each other. Indians can not achieve independence unless they sink and remove their religious and caste arrogance. So he strictly wanted to make sure to all his followers that they should remove in totality all their religious and caste differences.

(c) He was aware of the fact that the Indian National Congress which was formed on December 28th 1885 was representing in 1915 only the elite mass of India so he knew that it was important to extend its range to the lower strata of the society.

(d) Gandhi realized that the politics of assassination of British officials that was carried on at that time by the Indian revolutionaries would not be beneficial for Indians and for the cause of Independence in the short and long term as it was not a pan India phenomenon and was carried on by a handful of revolutionaries. Also Gandhiji viewed nonviolence as a more potent weapon than violence.

(e) Gandhiji consistently worked on himself as he was always ready to acknowledge his mistakes and face punishment for them.