Salt Satyagraha and Dandi March

he Salt Satyagraha, aka the Salt March, was one of the most well-known protests against the British Empire, spearheaded by Mahatma Gandhi, for our country's independence. It marked the beginning of the Civil Disobedience movement in India.

It was also Mahatma Gandhi's second-largest public demonstration campaign for India's fight for freedom from the colonial powers.

TheSalt Act of 1882was implemented in India in response to the recommendations of theSalt Commission of 1836.It gave the British government a monopoly on salt manufacturing in India.

Salt accounted for two-fifths of the British government's tax income. This tax imposed a significant hardship on the impoverished, as salt was a crucial component of the people's diet.

However, the British forbade them from producing salt for home consumption. As a result, people were obliged to acquire salt from shops at exorbitant costs, causing the price of salt to treble.

This regulation, enacted to encourage the British export trade, had a considerable impact on Indians. As a result of this rule, villages in Gujarat linked with salt manufacturing have suffered considerably.

Thus the Salt Act became one of the most hated laws in British India.

As part of his civil disobedience campaign, Mahatma Gandhi chose to exploit this predicament as a weapon against the British.

Mahatma Gandhi's civil disobedience movement was significantly influenced byHenry David Thoreau's 1849 essay Civil Disobedience (Formerly Resistance to Civil Government / On the Duty of Civil Disobedience).

The decision to engage in civil disobedience was made at the1929 Lahore Congress session.

FollowingPurna Swaraj'sproclamation onJanuary 26, 1930, it was thefirst declared agitation sponsored by the Indian National Congress.

The British were oblivious to the gravity of Gandhiji's challenge. Despite the fact that Gandhiji had given theViceroy, Lord Irwin,advance notice of his Dandi march, he ignored it.

Before embarking on the Dandi March, Gandhi addressed a historic letter to Lord Irwin in which he said that he would breach the salt law on March 2, 1930, which was disregarded as "Storm in a teacup."

His final words before he set out for the Dandi March was "Either I shall return with what I want or my dead body will float in the ocean."

The march was organized by Mahatma Gandhi in opposition to the British-imposed salt tax. Gandhi and his followers wanted to make salt from seawater to oppose British policy.The Dandi March lasted 24 days, beginning on March 12, 1930, when Mahatma Gandhi, aged 61, led 78 satyagrahis from all parts of India from the Ahmedabad Sabarmati Ashram and ended on April 6, 1930.Initially, Gandhiji decided to restrict the Dandi March to men only, however, on the insistence of social activistKamaladevi Chattopadhyay, women were allowed to take part in the movement.As per the Historian Geraldine Forbes, Gandhiji's initial refusal to allow women to join in the Dandi March was based on his concern that the British would label Indians as cowards for "hiding behind women."**Thus Sarojini Naidu, the first women president of the Indian National Congress (1925) became part of the Dandi March.Over the course of the protest, Gandhi cut through the heartland of Gujarat and addressed several large crowds, and as time went on, more and more people joined the salt satyagraha.After passing through four districts and 48 villages, the march arrived at Dandi beach of Navsari town in Gujarat, their destination covering 386 km on foot.

Gandhiji defied the salt law onApril 6, 1930, at 6:30 am, by scooping up a handful of salt and declaring, 'With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British empire.'

The first packet of the ground salt was auctioned for an incredible price of Rs 501.

For Dandi Yatra Satyagrahis donned pearly white khadi clothing. This is why the Dandi March is also known as the 'White Flowing River.'

Millions of individuals around the country violated the Salt Law and faced prison time. Salt stores were plundered all over the place, and clandestine salt production began.

The participation of working-class, women, and teenagers was a significant feature of the Salt March and the Civil Disobedience movement in general.

The British tried to suppress it with an iron fist, used lathis and batons in instances such as the Dharasana, where289volunteers were injured in a single raid.

Gandhiji was held in Karadi at midnight on May 4–5, 1930, on a written order under Regulation XXV of 1827 From there he was then taken toYerawada Central Jail.

Other significant figures such as Vallabhi Patel (imprisoned on March 7) and Jawaharlal Nehru (arrested and convicted to 6 months in jail on April 14) were arrested and punished for their roles in the 1930 Salt Satyagraha.

The British government imprisoned more than 60,000 people for participating in the protests as part of the Salt Satyagraha.

Gandhi- Irwin Pact of 1931 / Delhi Pact.

When the situation began to deteriorate dramatically, with the forthcoming Second Round Table Conference and the entire world's attention focused on the matter, the British found it impossible to keep the satyagrahis in the jail and Lord Irwin wanted the matter to be resolved.

So, onJanuary 25, 1931, Gandhiji and all others were unconditionally released from prison, and Lord Irwin consented to peace talks.

The Congress leadership, led by Sardar Vallabhai Patel, chose Gandhiji as their representative.

According to the pact, Lord Irwin revoked the Salt Law and promised the release of all political prisoners except prisoners held guilty of violence.

He also agreed that to withdraw all the ordinances and prosecutions and revoke the ban on INC.

While Gandhi agreed to end the Civil disobedience movement and to participate in the Second Round Table Conference on behalf of INC.

Themain negotiatorsbetween Gandhi and Lord Irwin for the Delhi pact wereTej Bahadur Sapru and C. Y. Chintamani.