The following factors make him truly special with regard to the Indian Independence Struggle
- Method: The Gandhian method of struggle is based on Satya and Ahimsa. This meant that violence was truly discouraged and emphasis placed on the good qualities in the men involved in both the protestor and the protested. The protestor appealed to the humanity in the oppressor and expressed love for him as a person even when differing with him in opinion. This was truly a unique method. It had the added advantage that it could be practiced by anyone.
- Understanding of the masses: Gandhiji was the first Indian Leader who truly understood the masses. He walked amongst them, talked like them, dressed like them and interacted with them. He was easily relatable to an average India. Needless to say, Gandhian era marks the true mass phase of Indian independence struggle. From an elitist movement, it suddenly became a movement of the masses.
- Both inward and outward looking: At a time when the moderates and extremist and the nationalists were wary of criticising themselves, Gandhiji pointed out the mistakes that we made as Indians. His tireless tirade against untouchability and the efforts for Harijan uplift were nothing but penance for the crimes committed by Indians upon Indians. No other leader had dared to think this way before Gandhiji.
Gandhian phase of the Indian independence movement truly is a separate area of study in itself. But the above mentioned points are the crux of it.