Gandhians at the Institute
India has been colonized by the British for more than a century when MIT opened its doors in 1861. Anticolonial nationalists held the firm belief that education and technical skills were vital to modernizing India economically, politically and socially so that the country could be free. More than three hundred students from colonial India attended MIT between 1880-1947. From the very first student, Keshav Bhat onward, MIT’s South Asian alumni were closely connected to India’s anticolonial movement and applied their technological skills to various nation-building projects after independence in 1947.
The 1920s and 30s brought several Indian students to MIT whose families had been active in supporting Mahatma Gandhi’s satyagraha against the British. These students had not only deeply imbibed Gandhian ideas of non-violence and swaraj but were fighting for a technological, self-governing India. Ross Bassett refers to these students as MIT-trained Swadeshis.
Trikamalal Manusukhlal Shah ’29, SM ’31 was a lifelong Gandhian who served as registrar at Gujarat Vidyapith, a college set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1920, before coming to MIT. Courtesy of Deval Canning
Bal Dattarey Kalelkar, SM ’41 grew up in Gandhi’s ashram in Gujarat and corresponded frequently with him. Courtesy of Chriag Kalelkar
Gandhi's blessings to Ram Prasad ScD 1922
Mahatma Gandhi was held in high regard not only by students from India but also MIT’s Presidents, Carl Compton and J.R. Killian. Following Gandhi’s death on January 30, 1948, he was honored with a memorial service in Washington DC that was attended by the President of the United States of America. The US Ambassador of India invited MIT's President Carl Compton to the memorial. While Compton could not attend the service, J. R. Killian Jr., Vice President of MIT sent a note of condolense sympathyzing deeply with the people of India on behalf of the Institute.
Informing MIT of the US President’s presence at Gandhi’s memorial service, the Ambassador of India requests the presence of MIT officials as well
J. R. Killian Jr. Vice President offers condolences on behalf of MIT to the people of India regarding the passing of Mahatma Gandhi
Student Protests
By the 1930s, an increasingly vocal group of young students from India brought their anti-colonial protest to campus. The Tech reported widely on these.
" Vice President Killian’s words are reflective not only of Gandhi’s unstated association with the Institute, but of his impact for years to come. Students have and will continue to attend MIT in hopes of gaining the technological expertise that will enable them to create meaningful change in the world, and the stories of India’s nation-builders alongside Gandhi’s influence will hopefully inspire future generations to fight for an independent, free world for all. " - Akshaya Seetharam, Wellesley 2025, Student Researcher