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How have the different kinds of available sources helped the historians in reconstructing the political career of Gandhiji and the history of the national movement that was associated with it? Explain.

Answer:

It is very difficult to construct the real picture of a politician and leader despite availability of materials because the big the leader is, the more are perceptions and myths about him. So the historians have relied on concrete sources to reconstruct Gandhiji?s political career and personality.

The most important source it writings and speeches by Gandhiji, his contemporaries and associates.

Example: Gandhiji started magazines such as Harijan etc. Though historians feel that there is need to separate public writings and speeches from private letters because public wrings give his thought about society whereas private letters depict the philosophy about life, society and internal imbroglios.

Another sources is autobiographies, as they give an account of the past that is often rich in human detail.

Example: Story of my experiments with truth. Another vital source is government? records. As these records can be read from archives, these provide information about what was the response of the government to his policies and actions.

Example: Home department reports during dandi march reveal that the department was not willing to accept that

Gandhi?s actions had evoked any enthusiastic response from the masses.

Newspapers also give details of the movements and presented what ordinary Indians thought of him.