In March 1930, Gandhi led a historic Dandi March against the British govt’s unfair Salt Tax & shook its foundation.
On 12 March 1930, Gandhi ji led a historic 24-day Dandi March from his Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, Gujarat to Dandi, a village on the Arabian Sea, against the British government’s unfair Salt Tax. The Salt March that started with 78 satyagrahis, gradually grew to 50,000 followers, and within weeks, motivated millions across India.
The Salt Satyagraha spiralled into the Civil Disobedience movement, truly shaking the foundations of the British Empire – forcing them to finally bow down. Here’s how.
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The Power of ‘Satygraha’
The Dandi March, also known as the Salt March or the Salt Satyagraha, took Bapu and his followers 24 days. On their way to Dandi, they walked 395 kilometres.
Bapu’s choice of salt as the focus of the protest was not taken seriously by his own aides in the Congress, including Pandit Nehru and Sardar Patel. Even the then Viceroy, Lord Irwin felt that Gandhi’s protest was no threat at all.
But who knew salt, that basic humble ingredient in every meal eaten by every common man, for which he had to pay an unfairly high tax to the British government, would fire the imagination of millions across undivided India.
And Its Global Impact…
The Salt March to Dandi inspired others too. Leaders like Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Sarojini Naidu and C Rajagopalachari led salt movements in other parts of the country. These marches ignited ‘Civil Disobedience Movement’ and the ‘Swadeshi Movement’ in the country, and the call for ‘purna swaraj’ (complete independence) grew louder.
Soon, people started defying other ‘unfair, unpopular’ taxes levied by the British. And ultimately, the British had to bow down and revoke the salt tax and give up its monopoly over the production and sale of salt.
30 years later, the March to Dandi inspired American civil rights activists Martin Luther King Jr, James Bevel, and others, in their fight for the civil rights of African Americans and other minority groups in the 1960s.