Mahatma Gandhi: The Greatest Event Manager of All Time — Image from Pixabay

This is not a political review but a management review attempting to analyze the event management and Marketing Skills of the greatest leader of India.

Mahatma Gandhi: The King of Movements

Mahatma Gandhi (MG) was the Ironman without the suit who employed a non-violence struggle to lead the successful campaign for the freedom of India from the rule of British Empire.

Many have not noticed but he is the overlooked Biggest Event Planner in the world. Almost all of his movements were able to catch public attention and attendance.

In the book 'Count Your Chickens Before They Hatch' the author identifies Gandhi as a great marketing guru. He has successfully marketed his all events (movements for freedom). Gandhi’s modus operandi for organizing events was deeply rooted in the culture of India.

Indian freedom struggle was more of a regional and class-limited movement before Mahatma Gandhi joined the struggle after coming from Durban (South Africa). Indian National Congress (INC) was the, then only, pan- India organization to conduct the struggle across the nation. But, the INC mostly represented the elite and educated higher and middle class intellectuals as its members.

It was the charismatic leadership qualities of Gandhi which mobilized the masses toward the freedom struggle.

The success of any event is measured by its number of attendees, we must salute MG because he mobilized masses in the non-google, least telecommunication era. The following skills are used by MG for making his movements successful:

1. Word of Mouth Publicity: As a great strategist, Mahatma knew how to create an idea that would be widely shared by the people. Gandhi’s greatest achievement was his ability to communicate easily. Gandhi traveled all over the country to make the vision of freedom a common vision among people living in different parts of the country.

He made efforts to reach out to the masses by using his method of “speech” of rallies, dharnas (protests), padayatra and non-violent protests. He always make a toli (group of volunteers) to spread the awareness about his next movement in simple language.

His biggest weapon in mass mobilization was the simplicity of the message conveyed to the masses in their regional language.

2. Brand Name of Andolan (Movement): Mahatma Gandhi kept the names of the freedom movements very simple, easy to remember, and easy to pronounce. He kept the name of the freedom movement multilingual for its local and international outreach. A few of his successful (in terms of event management) events are listed below to be studied for Branding:

A. Satyagraha (satya: "truth", āgraha: "insistence" or "holding firmly to") or "holding firmly to truth". Even you can find the word Satyagrah in modern English dictionary meaning a policy of passive political resistance, especially that advocated by Mahatma Gandhi against British rule in India.

Under this category, he used many subcategories like Namak (Salt) Satyagraha/ Salt March: It was twenty-four day march carried out from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a campaign of tax resistance and non-violent protest against the British Monopoly in the business of salt.

B. Asahyog Andolan/ Non-Cooperation Movement, an attempt in 1920–22, organized by Mahatma Gandhi, to induce the British government of India to grant self-government, or swaraj, to India. It was one of Gandhi's first organized acts of large-scale civil disobedience (satyagraha).

C. Angrezo Bharat Chhodo/ The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in India.

3. Engaging Activities in the Freedom Movements: No one else knew better than MG, how to engage the participants in an event.

A. Burning Clothes: 150,000 English clothes at Elphinstone Mill Compound, Parel, Mumbai on 31 July 1921 were burned to strengthen the Swadeshi movement ( A movement for national independence in India boycotting foreign goods, and encouraging the use of domestic products).

B. Marching: The twenty-four-day march lasted from 12 March 1930 to 6 April 1930 as a campaign of resistance to the salt tax . It involved non-violent protest against the British Salt Monopoly.

C. Prayers: Fasting & mass prayers were a vital part of Gandhi’s movements.

4. Continuous contact with masses: While not actively involved in any mass agitation or movement, he constantly remained in contact with the masses with several constructive programs. He vowed for Swadeshi and Khadi and supported the orientalist view of national schools and education.

Mahatma Gandhi: The Greatest Event Manager of All Time