Mahatma had done something that no other human has ever done before him - unite a quarter of the world population (with extreme diversity) on a peace mission with no modern tools, heridatory authority or religious gospels.

Imagine you are fighting the world's most powerful empire that has every tool at its disposal. The empire considers your territory as its crown jewel and willing to do anything to fight for it. The empire could do brutal things (like shooting 100s of people gathered in a peaceful meeting) to quell any opposition.

You have a dude who says he can win. Instead of asking you to pick stones, guns and bombs, he makes you create salt at a beach and sew your own clothes. The empire that was never afraid of the revolutionaries with bombs, starts to shake now seeing the protestors with salt and home made clothes. The empire watches its dismemberment helplessly as the dude carries out his mission in a completely unorthodox way.

Mahatma Gandhi was an uber cool leader who was willing to experiment crazy paths. He was predictably unpredictable. Some reasons why he was able to unite people.

He truly cared about people:Not just Indians. But, everyone.When the Mahatma announced the call to boycott British clothes (to rejuvenate the Indian economy & break the British monopoly) he took the time to visit the mills in Manchester & apologize to the workers. The British weavers never let him apologize and actually cheered his boycott.

Amazing background:By the time Mahatma Gandhi entered the Indian politics in 1914, he had already spent 21 years in the South African civil rights movement. He had the academic credibility from London and the street credibility from South Africa. Then he spent years touring India & observed from a very perceptive lens. Very few Indian leaders had that kind of background. Most were armchair revolutionaries (like what we are all doing now).

Extreme strength.He learned to balance on wooden logs placed over water when he was 77. At 77 we would all be getting done with our activities. And he grew up in the 19th century with no vaccination or modern medicine. His body was often devastated by constant fasting, protests, speeches and travel. His mind was traumatized by the violence and partition that was engulfing India. But, he had a task in hand - to stop a humouguous violence in a region of Bengal that was like this.

The villages were all isolated by river water and the jungles were infested with tigers and crocs. The villages were connected with each other just by small wooden poles. At that age Gandhi learned to balance himself in the poles dug in Ganges to walk the river alone and meet angry villagers (who wanted Gandhi's blood) alone. He would live with them, reason with them and pray with them. Village by village, he calmed the religious riot. He saved millions and millions of people with that.

Patience to do the right thing:Mahatma combined the persistence of his character with the strength of adhering to truth. Most revolutionaries were willing to bend the truth & law. They believed that the ends justified the means. Mahatma didn't take any such shortcuts. He was willing to build his future brick-by-brick. He had immense patience.

Ideas that appealed universally:Mahatma's ideas moved the thinkers of Britain (Charlie Chaplin & Bernard Shaw) as well as the illiterates of Indian hinterland. In fact, I didn't watch the movie "Gandi" seriously until I was in a youth hostel in Utrecht, Netherlands where European students of all types were glued to the movie. There was something magical. Look at this awesome Italian ad:

The emotional appeal of a saint-politician:Mahatma's truth and character brought out the emotions in other humans. My grandfather is a very rational man who was a leader in the banking industry. But, when he got a chance to meet the Mahatma during his childhood, he was in tears. Businessmen, world leaders, judges, bankers, actors were all captivated by his charisma as they have seldom encountered a truthful politician. He was an absolute novelty (for a lawyer turned politician)