YDS 2014-1 Soru=57

The author of the passage states that ----.

Arguably the most influential figure in the history of
Indian politics, Gandhi became the symbol of Indian
nationalism and was given the status of the Father of
the Nation after India achieved independence in 1947.
Gandhi’s most significant contribution to Indian politics
was perhaps his belief in the strength of ordinary
people. Gandhi was able to mobilize the Indian people
primarily because the demands his politics made upon
the individual were not extraordinary. His insistence on
non-violence which characterized his campaigns of civil
disobedience allowed people to participate in national
politics in many different ways, none of which
necessarily required a break with people’s daily lives.
Gandhi was able to create a national mood, which cut
across castes, classes, religions and regional loyalties
by rejecting the boundaries that these created as
irrelevant to the moral truth that he made central to his
discourse. This at times led him to limit the more radical
aspects of nationalist aspirations of some within his
Congress Party. Another distinguishing feature of
Gandhi’s philosophy was his opposition to Western
modernization as a model for India’s development