Mahatma Gandhi is a role model not only among Indians, but he is among the most admired global personalities of all time.
Gandhiji lived and worked with and for the ill housed ill clothed and underfed millions of Indians. He lost himself in the multitude in such a way as if he was one with them.
His clothing style was very simple. The loin cloth round the body, the wooden sandal on the feet, the spectacles on the nose and the watch were perhaps the few things which were enough for this person whether he was in his cottage meditating on God or in Birla House attending his Prarthana Sabha or in England attending a Round Table Conference.
The man, who was the son of a Diwan and had qualified at the Bar living in England for a number of years, was not ashamed of such a simple life, and rather on the contrary, was proud of it because in such a dress he was representing his India which was residing in villages.
Before participating in the politics of India, Mahatma Gandhi had his experience in South Africa. The Indian in that part of Africa were treated very harshly by the Whites. Incidentally, Gandhiji was involved in their politics, and within a few years, he became their undisputed leader.
Gandhi gave the lead in Indian politics when it was most needed. When he came to India, enriched with the experience of South Africa, he had the stalwarts like Gokhale and Tilak who were the spokesmen of the people. Gandhiji wanted to take part in the national movement but he was not fully conversant with the situation here. He was advised to take an extensive tour of the country to inform himself of the prevailing conditions in different parts of the country. This tour actually helped him because he was shocked to find that millions of people were living below human standard. The misery of the peasants specially appealed to his sense of humanity and, therefore, he decided to throw in his lot with those teeming millions who were forming the real population of the country.
Gandhiji has given his early career in his autobiography, and from there we can conclude that, from the very beginning, he was a religious minded fellow.
Mahatma Gandhi never acted against his conscience whatever are the circumstances. He refused to take off his turban when he was ordered to do so by a Magistrate in South Africa. A man of ordinary morality could have never gathered the courage to show this boldness at various stages of his life. Hence, Mahatma Gandhi is a role model.
Gandhi was a believer of Ahimsa and non-violence. Non-injury to any form of life was the creed of his life, and he was not ready to sacrifice it even during his political career. The weapon of Satyagraha was to him nothing but recognition of God and his attribute of love. He refused to be violent in spite of many provocations. When a fanatic Afghan tried to harm him, he was bolt enough to forgive the fellow because he was a fool who could not distinguish between just and unjust. He forgave the man who threw a bomb at his prayer meeting at Delhi because the fellow was a mad man and could not judge his action according to his conscience. He according to all estimate, would have been the last man to see Godse penalized had he survived the fatal attack. Thus, he was a believer of non-violence to the core.