Explain the salt March how it was organised as a part of Civil Disobedience movement

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On the 91st anniversary of the historic salt march led by Mahatma Gandhi from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi in Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi flagged off a symbolic 386-kilometre ‘Dandi march’, following the same route on Friday. The PM also launched Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav to celebrate 75 years of India’s Independence.

The 24-day march from March 12 to April 5, 1930 was a tax resistance campaign against the British salt monopoly. Based on Gandhi’s principle of non-violence or Satyagraha, the march marked the inauguration of the civil disobedience movement. The Dandi march was easily the most significant organised movement against the British Raj after the non-cooperation movement of the early 1920s. In all the attention that it drove from the national and international media and world leaders, it was truly a turning point in the Indian Independence movement.

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Why did Gandhi call for the Dandi March?

The 1882 Salt Act gave the British a monopoly in the manufacture and sale of salt. Even though salt was freely available on the coasts of India, Indians were forced to buy it from the colonisers. Gandhi decided that if there was any one product through which the civil disobedience could be inaugurated, then it was salt. “Next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life,” he said, explaining his choice, even though many in the working committee of the Congress were not too sure about it. The British government, including the Viceroy Lord Irwin too did not take the prospect of a campaign against the salt tax too seriously.

Addressing a massive gathering in Ahmedabad on March 8, Gandhi declared his decision to break the salt laws. “That is for me one step, the first step, towards full freedom,” he said as quoted in historian Ramachandra Guha’s book, ‘Gandhi: The years that changed the world (1914-1948)’. Guha wrote, “Gandhi wanted this to be a long march, or pilgrimage perhaps, where his leisurely progress would enthuse people along the way and attract wider publicity too.” Finally, he decided on Dandi to be the point at which the salt law would be broken.

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There was great excitement in Ahmedabad on the eve of the march. A large crowd gathered around Sabarmati ashram and stayed through the night. Gandhi wrote to Nehru that night, informing him about rumours of his arrest. That did not happen though and Gandhi woke up a free man the following day.

He gathered his walking mates, a group of 78 men, who were bona fide ashramites. These included Manilal Gandhi from South Africa and several others from all across India. “There were thirty-one marchers from Gujarat, thirteen from Maharashtra, lesser numbers from the United Provinces, Kerala, Punjab and Sindh, with Tamilnad, Andhra, Karnataka, Bengal, Bihar and Orissa sending one man apiece. The diversity was social as well as geographical, for among the chosen marchers were many students and khadi workers, several ‘untouchables’, a few Muslims and one Christian,” wrote Guha. Even though women too wanted to be part of the march, Gandhi preferred to keep it restricted to men alone.

They started out at 6:30 AM, amidst a large group cheering them along with flowers, greetings and rupee notes. On their way they stopped at a number of villages, where Gandhi addressed large crowds with fiery speeches on the need to boycott the salt tax.

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Newspapers of the day reported on how at every stop Gandhi was greeted by enthusiastic followers. “Indescribable scenes of enthusiasm marked the progress of the march of the Swaraj Army on this fourth day. . . . The rich and the poor, millionaires and mazurs [workers], ‘caste’ Hindus and so-called untouchables, one and all, vied with one another in honouring India’s great liberator,” noted a report in the Bombay Chronicle. Other newspapers, particularly the international ones like the Time magazine and The Daily Telegraph, though provided a much bleaker picture of the march.

Gandhi reached Dandi on April 5. The following day, early morning he proceeded along with the other marchers to the sea, where he picked up lumps of natural salt lying in a small pit. The act was symbolic, but was hugely covered by the press, and was the beginning of several other acts of civil disobedience in other parts of India.

“With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire,” said Gandhi while picking up the salt in his hand. “Now that the technical or ceremonial breach of the Salt Law has been committed it is open to any one who would take the risk of prosecution under the Salt Law to manufacture salt wherever he wishes and wherever it is convenient. My advice is that the workers should everywhere manufacture salt to make use of it and to instruct the villagers to do so,” he told a representative of the Free Press.

What was the significance of the Dandi march?

The popularity gained by the march shook up the British government. It responded by arresting more than 95,000 people by March 31. The following month Gandhi proceeded to Dharasana salt works from where he was arrested and taken to the Yerawada Central Jail.

As Gandhi broke the salt laws in Dandi, similar acts of civil disobedience took place in other parts of India. In Bengal, for instance, volunteers led by Satish Chandra Dasgupta walked from Sodepur Ashram to the village of Mahisbathan to make salt. K.F Nariman in Bombay led another group of marchers to Haji Ali Point where they prepared salt at a nearby park.

The illegal manufacture and sale of salt was accompanied by the boycott of foreign cloth and liquor. What started as salt satyagraha soon grew into mass satyagraha. Forest laws were flouted in Maharashtra, Karnataka and the Central Provinces. Peasants in Gujarat and Bengal refused to pay land and chowkidari taxes. Acts of violence too broke out in Calcutta, Karachi and Gujarat, but unlike what happened during the non-cooperation movement, Gandhi refused to suspend the civil disobedience movement this time.

The Congress Working Committee decided to end the Satyagraha only in 1934. Even though it did not immediately lead to self rule or dominion status, the Salt Satyagraha did have some long term effects. “Indian, British and world opinion increasingly recognised the legitimate claims of Gandhi and the Congress for Indian Independence,” wrote Richard L. Johnson who authored the book, ‘Gandhi’s experiments with truth: Essential writings by and about Mahatma Gandhi’. Moreover, the British also realised that control over India now depended completely on the consent of the Indias.

Gandhi’s well-known Dandi March kicked off the Civil Disobedience Movement. On March 12, 1930, Gandhi and 78 other Ashram members set off on foot from the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmadabad for Dandi, a place on India’s western seacoast some 385 kilometers from Ahmadabad. They landed at Dandi on April 6, 1930. There, Gandhi disobeyed the salt ban.

The Civil Disobedience Movement grew across the country as a result of the disobedience of the Salt law. Salt production surged across the country during the initial phase of the civil disobedience campaign, and it became a symbol of the people’s rejection of the government. 

Development of Indian nationalism as a concept during the Indian independence movement which campaigned for independence from British rule. It is inclusive of all of the people of India, despite their diverse ethnic, linguistic, and religious backgrounds. which is an instance of territorial nationalism.

Towards Civil Disobedience 

• Mahatma Gandhi has decided to withdraw the non-cooperation movement in February 1922 because the movement was turning to violence in many places, which also shows that many of the leaders also get tired of mass struggles and want to participate in the election for the inner council that has been set up by the Indian government act of 1919.
• Later on, the swaraj party has been formed by C. R. Das and Motilal Nehru but it have been opposed by young leaders like Jawahar Lal Nehru and Subhash Chandra Bose pressed and asked for full independence.
• Two factors have changed the shape of Indian politics towards the late 1920s.
  • The Worldwide Economic Depression – As the effect of the worldwide economic depression. Prices of agriculture that have begun to decline from 1926 and collapsed after 1930. After that peasants found it difficult to sell their harvests and pay their revenue as the demand for agricultural goods fell and export declined.
  • The arrival of Simon Commission – After the Simon commission arrive in India in 1928, its main objective constituted under John Simon which was to review the functioning of the constitutional system and look forward to changes in the constitutional system. In this commission, there was not any single member of the committee. This Simon commission was boycotted by all Indian leaders and it was greeted with the slogan Go BACK SIMON.
• In October 1929, Lord Irwin has announced an offer of DOMINION STATUS to India, and a round table conferenced to discuss the future of the constitution. but congress leaders were not satisfied with it. At that time Radicals leaders like Subhash Chandra Bose and Jawahar Lal Nehru become more assertive in congress . 
• In December 1929, The Lahore congress has formalized the demand of PURNA SWARAJ under the leadership of Jawaharlal Nehru and the congress has declared 26th January 1930 as the independence day.

The Salt March

The British had long had a profitable monopoly on salt manufacture and delivery in India. The Indian population was barred from making or selling salt on their own due to a number of restrictions and instead had to rely on expensive, heavily taxed salt that was frequently imported. The vast majority of Indians were harmed by this since they were impoverished and could not afford to buy it. Indian protests against the salt tax began in the 19th century and were a major source of contention throughout the British colonial period.

• Mahatma Gandhi found out that salt is a powerful symbol that can be used as a symbol for the unity of the nation.
• On 31 January 1930 Gandhiji has sent a letter to viceroy Irwin with eleven of his demands out of which most important is the abolishing of tax on salt and some other with general interests and specific demands of different castes from industrialists peasants. 
• Salt is an essential item that is used by everyone in society. The tax on salt and its monopoly over its production revealed the most oppressive face of the British government.  
• According to Gandhiji if any movement will be arranged against this oppression of British rule which has affected people from all strata or against the monopoly over the production of salt that will be helpful in the unity of the nation.  
• Gandhiji gave an ultimatum to the British government that congress will launch a civil disobedience campaign if demand were not fulfilled to the British Government but viceroy Irwin denied the negotiation. 
• Later on, Gandhiji has started his famous salt march accompanied by 78 followed leaders from the Sabarmati ashram towards Dandi the coastal town of Gujarat. They have reached Dandi on 6th April and start the movement to violate the law and start manufacturing salt by boiling salt water.  
• This has also marked the beginning of the civil disobedience movement all over India.

The Civil Disobedience Movement

Civil disobedience, also known as passive resistance, is the refusal to accept a government’s or occupying authority’s demands or directives without resorting to violence or aggressive acts of opposition; its common goal is to push the government or occupying power to make concessions. Nationalist movements in Africa and India, the American civil rights movement, labor, anti-war, and other social movements in many nations have all used civil disobedience as a primary technique and ideology.

Following are the important features of the Civil Disobedience Movement –

• This time leaders asked the people not only to stop cooperating with British officials but also allowed or informed them to break the colonial laws as they did in 1921 – 22 at the time of the non-cooperation movement.
• In different parts of the country, thousands of protestors have broken the salt law, manufactured salt, and demonstrated in front of Government salt factories.
• In many of the areas as the movement spread people have started boycotting foreign clothes and liquor shops were picketed. peasants also refuse to pay revenue and Chaukidari taxes and also resigned from the government-controlled offices. In many places, forest people violated forest laws as they started going into forests to collect wood and graze cattle.
• As a result of this uncontrolled situation, the British colonial government has started taking action as they have started arresting Congress leaders one by one.
• When the British government arrested Abdul Ghaffar Khan in 1930 then the angry crowds demonstrated in the streets of Peshawar and many were killed in open firing After one month Mahatma Gandhi was also arrested then industrial workers attacked all the structures that symbolized British rule then in return frightened government has responded with a policy of brutal repression that results into an attack on peaceful satyagraha, women and children were beaten and around 100000 people were arrested.  
• After this situation, Gandhiji has decided to call off the movement and entered into a pact with Irwin on 5th March 1931. Gandhiji has given consent to participate in Round Table Conference in London and after that government agreed to release the political prisoners.  
• Gandhiji went to London for the conference but the negotiations didn’t take place. when he returned and found that the congress party already declared illegal and their radical leaders Ghaffar khan and Jawahar Lal Nehru were both in jail and a series of measures had been imposed to prevent meetings, demonstrations, and boycotts. With great motives Gandhiji has relaunched the civil disobedience movement it continued for a year but later on in 1934 its lost momentum.

Sample Questions

Question 1: Why did the non-cooperation movement begin in 1920?

Answer: 

Gandhi ji initiated the non-cooperation movement in 1920 because he regarded it as a chance to unify Hindus and Muslims and to find a solution to the khilafat issue. The achievement of swaraj was the most crucial goal .The non-cooperation movement attempted to overthrow the colonial economic and power system, forcing British authorities to listen to the independence movement’s demands. 

The Rowlatt Act prompted Gandhi to call for a countrywide demonstration. His non-cooperation strategy involved urging all Indians to withdraw their labour from any activity that “supported the British administration and also the economy in India,” including British enterprises and educational institutions, in order to promote “self-reliance.” Protesters would refuse to buy British goods, employ local handicrafts (spinning khadi, for example), and picket liquor stores using nonviolent tactics, or Ahimsa.

Question 2: Why did Gandhi decide to call a halt to the non-cooperation movement?

Answer:

The revolution was a great shock to British authorities and a massive source of inspiration for millions of Indian nationalists. The country’s unity was bolstered, and several Indian schools and institutions were established. The sale of Indian items was promoted. 

On February 5, 1922, a massacre occurred in Chauri Chaura, a tiny town in the Gorakhpur region of Uttar Pradesh. A police officer assaulted a group of volunteers who were picketing a booze store. A large mass of peasants gathered there and proceeded to the police chowki (station). The mob set fire to the police chowki, which contained 22 officers.

 After the Chauri Chaura event, the non-cooperation movement was disbanded. Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned on February 12, 1922, after having single-handedly put down the national insurrection. He was sentenced to six years in jail on March 18, 1922, for printing seditious literature. This resulted in the movement’s suppression, as well as the imprisonment of additional leaders.

Question 3: What influence did the noncooperation movement’s stop have on other leaders?

Answer: 

 The insurrection, Mahatma Gandhi thought, was drifting off course, and he was dissatisfied with the movement’s gradual loss of its nonviolent nature. He didn’t want the movement to devolve into a bloodbath, with police and enraged crowds battling one other and people caught in the middle. Gandhi went on a fast and called off the non-cooperation action on February 12, 1922, after appealing to the Indian populace to halt all opposition.

Despite the fact that the majority of Congress officials remained loyal to Gandhi, a few of determined leaders, notably the Ali brothers, broke away (Mohammad Ali and Shaukat Ali). In response to Gandhi’s leadership, Motilal Nehru and Chittaranjan Das founded the Swaraj Party. Many nationalists believed that the non-cooperation campaign should not have been halted because of rare acts of violence, and most nationalists were disappointed, despite their faith in Gandhi.

Question 4: Why the Swaraj Party has been formed?

Answer:

The Swaraj Party was founded by C.R. Das and Motilal Nehru. The non-cooperation movement’s goal of swaraj was not met. As a result, some leaders in Congress were tired of large protests and wanted to vote in the provincial council elections established by the Government of India Act of 1919. They believed that opposing British government policies within the council, arguing for change, and demonstrating that these councils were not actually democratic was critical. Within the Congress, C.R Das and Motilal Nehru founded the swaraj party to advocate for a return to council politics.

Question 5: What are the economic repercussions of the non-cooperation movement?

Answer: 

• Fall in Imports: Imports are falling as a result of a boycott of foreign goods, picketing of liquor stores, and the burning of imported clothing in a massive bonfire. Between 1921 and 1922, the import of foreign clothes was cut in half, with the value falling from Rs 102 crore to Rs 57 crore.
• Foreign Goods Boycott: In many regions, merchants and dealers refused to trade in foreign goods or fund foreign commerce.
• Boost to the Indian economy: As the boycott campaign expanded and individuals began to discard foreign clothes in favour of wearing solely Indian ones, output of Indian textiles and handlooms increased.