A three part series on the life of Mahatma Gandhi will air on BBC 2 from next week.

The one hour programmes will challenge people’s idealised images of the non-violent campaigner and may prove controversial with many of his supporters.

Gandhi’s non-violent vision to liberate India from the British Raj inspired world leaders such as Nelson Mandela and President Obama.

But journalist Mishal Husain, whose grandparents were Muslims in India at the time of Independence, uncovers a man torn by contradictions – the pacifist who backed war and Jihad, the holy man branded a racist, the political campaigner astute and brilliant one moment, naïve the next.

The programmes will chronicle the dramatic story of his life – from the little known but decisive early years in London and South Africa through to India where he eventually falls to an assassin’s bullet.

With interviews with Gandhi’s grandson and granddaughter, Mishal finds India has since turned its back on Gandhi’s blueprint for the country, yet he is still revered as the Father of the Nation.

A year before his death, Gandhi complained that everyone wanted to take his photograph rather than discuss his policies and asked “who listens to me today?” The programme attempts to answer that question, say producers.

Gandhi – Sundays at 8pm from 3 Oct