Salt March

Mahatma Gandhi was an eminent leader and the epitome of non-violent movements against British rule in India and was the first Indian to mobilize and unite the entire nation for the cause of free India. Among all the major non-violent protests that were carried out by Mahatma Gandhi in his lifetime, Satyagraha Dandi March holds a very important significance in the history of the Indian freedom movement. Mahatma Gandhi started his Dandi March in March that continued till April 1930. Initially, the Dandi march that is also famously known as the Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement. Dadi March started from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi beach of Gujrat that later on the occasion of 91st Anniversary “Dandi march dated 12th March 1930”,  Narendra Modi had covered the “Dandi march distance” of 368 Km following the same route. 

Mahatma Gandhi began the salt march from March 1930 with 80 people and went on to cover 368 km of walking to Dandi beach. This was a massive success as the march that ended in April 1930 saw 50,000 people gathered as march progressed. The 24 days of the Dandi March started from 12th March and ended on the 5th of April in the year 1930. It was an anti-tax movement against the salt monopoly of the British. It was like any other Gandhi’s massive non-violent mass movement that was the mark of the Civil Disobedience movement in India. 

After the non-cooperation movement was carried out in 1920, Dandi March is considered the most organized mass movement in Indian pre-independence history. It was the first time in the struggle movement of India at that period that it drew maximum attention of the national and international media with most of the prominent leaders of the world. 

(Image will be uploaded soon)

Image: Illustration of Dandi March in 1930

Reason for March to Dandi

The British passed an act of 1882, that gave the entire monopoly of salt production and trade in India to the Britishers. Although India had abundant resources of salt on the coasts of India, still they were forced by the Britishers to pay a high Tax to buy salt from them. Thus Gandhi Ji who was planning to raise a civil disobedience movement at that period thought of Salt as the best reason to inaugurate the civil disobedience movement in 1930 with the “salt march”. 

According to Mama Gandhi, after air and water salt is the third most important component of human living. He thus explained his choice to All India Congress leaders and other leaders who were associated with Mahatma Gandhi in his non-violence movements. But at that time, the leaders in the Working Committee of All India Congress including Nehru were not very convinced with the idea of a march proposed by Mahatma Gandhi. Even the British governor Viceroy Lord Irwin with other government officials did not take the campaign of Gandhi against salt taxation seriously as it did not seem promising to them. 

On March 8th he finally revealed his campaign on resisting tax implementation on the salt by arranging a mass march in Gujrat. He was also quoted while addressing the thousands of people present during the declaration that for him it is the first step and one step towards full Independence. The main purpose of Mahatma Gandhi was to conduct a long march or a pilgrimage that would, in turn, motivate people along the way of the leisure march and will attract huge attention throughout the world as more and more people will get associated as the march progresses. It was one of its kind that never has happened in the history of India. Finally, he decided to break his march on the coast of Dandi to acquire salt as his first declaration of freedom against tax law on salt. 

Incidences of Dandi March of Mahatma Gandhi

An eve before the Dandi march date (Dandi Yatra date), a huge crowd gathered in the Sabarmati Ashram in Gujarat where Gandhi was residing. There was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm among the people regarding the Dandi Yatra as they stayed in the Ashram that night. On that eve Gandhi wrote a letter to Nehru dismissing the rumours against his arrest by the British Officials and he woke up on the day of the March as a free man. 

There was a crowd of 80 men, whom Mahatma Gandhi gathered before the march to Dandi started. They were all bonafide members of his ashram. The members included Manilal Gandhi who returned from South Africa and many such eminent leaders from all across the country. It has been registered that there were 31 march members who were from Gujrat, 13 from Maharashtra and a few from the province of Kerala, Punjab and Sindh, Tamil Nadu, Andhra, Karnataka, Orissa and West Bengal who started the march from Sabarmati Ashram (the starting point of the March). 

The march was unique in social and geographical context as the marchers included many students as well as elderly, many from Kadi working class, many untouchables, a few Muslims and Christians apart from upper-caste Hindus. It was for the first time that it set a diversified frame where all social classes of people unified for a cause. Though women also wanted to be a part of the march but looking into the safety and the well-being of women and children, he decided to go forward with the men. 

They started the march early in the morning, around 6:30 Am with a huge crowd gathered around and cheering for them by presenting flowers, greetings and rupee notes. During the march, Gandhi along with the marchers stopped at many villages and gave a fierce speech to convince them to boycott the tax on the salt act. Many national and local newspapers started publishing stories on how Mahatma Gandhi was greeted overwhelmingly by the villagers at every stop. But the international journals like The Daily Telegraph and the Time magazine gave a very desolate picture of the march. 

Finally after a 24 days long March, on the 5th of April 1930, Gandhi Ji along with 50,000 marchers who joined him along the way reached Dandi. The following morning along with all the marchers, Mahatma Gandhi reached the coast of Dandi and started collecting the lumps of salt that were lying on the beach. This act became very symbolic as it was hugely covered by the national press. With this, in the following years, several other successful disobedience movements were successfully carried out by many pro-India leaders that have put a great impact on the social and political scenario of British rule in India. 

He was also quoted by the representatives of the free press that the official Satyagraha movement along with the civil disobedience movement and now anyone who is willing to take risk of prosecuting this movement by his/her will is always encouraged. The workers are also advised to manufacture the refined salts in all parts of the country and also instruct villagers on the process of manufacturing.        

Significance of Dandi March

Witnessing the massive popularity and the reaction that the march got nationally and internationally, shook up the British Government. To its response on 31st March, the British officials ended up arresting approximately 95000 people who were directly and indirectly associated with the March. Gandhi Ji was arrested in the following month as he headed to Dharasana salt work. He was taken to Yerwada Central Jail.

After Gandhi promoted the civil disobedience movement with the Dandi march, many other such disobedience movements started breaking out in other parts of the country. Following the path of Dandi March, under the leadership of Satish Chandra Dasgupta, a voluntary march was carried out from Sodpur to the nearby village called Mahishbathan where they prepared salt indigenously. In Bombay, K.F. Narayan led another voluntary group to salt march till Haji Ali Point where they made salt in a nearby park. 

Not only the indigenous way of preparing salt and Kadhi cloths arose throughout the nation, but also the boycott of English liquor and cloths was also initiated on a mass scale. The satyagraha that was proposed and practised by Gandhi soon became a movement of the nation where masses started following the path of satyagraha.  Forest law was imposed on Maharashtra, Karnataka and many central provinces of India. Peasants from Bengal and Gujrat started revolting against tax paying for land and chowkidar. This further led to the violent breakout in Punjab, Bengal, Karachi and Gujrat. But despite the violent protest, unlike in the time of the non-cooperation movement, Gandhi refused to revoke the satyagraha movement and continued to promote it in his non-violent ways. 

Finally, in the year 1934, the All India congress decided to put a stop to the Satyagraha movement. Though the Dandi march did not lead to immediate self-rule or complete freedom, it had some deep-rooted impact on British rule for the long term. It was for the first time after the massive breakout of the satyagraha movement that was initiated by Dandi March, Britisher realized the ruling power of the British had been shifted and now becoming dependent on the consent of the civilians of India.