Why was Gandhi able to unite Indians and shift political thoughts when earlier attempts had not succeeded

The reason why Gandhi managed to unite the Indians and shift the political thoughts was his way of propagating the independence movement. Unlike the people that were in charge of the previous movements, Gandhi had no violent rhetoric. He preached peace and love, he was inspiring protests, but peaceful ones, and he wanted the people from different ethnic and religious backgrounds in India to be and to remain in good relations, and the same was also meant for the British invaders. The people just adored him, and they were fascinated by the manner in which he acted and led the movement, thus gaining incredibly high popularity and support in a very short period of time.