The Dandi March Movement

Table of Contents☰

What’s in Today’s Article?

Why in the News?
What Was the Dandi March?
Reasons Behind the Dandi March
Build-up to the Dandi March
Timeline of the Dandi March
Impact of Dandi March
News Summary

Why in News?

PM Modi launched a master plan for the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram redevelopment project in Ahmedabad, on the anniversary of the historic Dandi March.

Dandi March

The Dandi March, also known as Salt March / Salt Satyagraha, was a major non-violent protest action led by Mahatma Gandhi in March-April 1930.
The march was the first act in an even-larger campaign of civil disobedience (satyagraha) Gandhi waged against the British rule in India that extended into early 1931.
It garnered Gandhi widespread support among the Indian populace and considerable worldwide attention.

Reasons Behind the Dandi March

Salt production and distribution in India had long been a lucrative monopoly of the British.
Through a series of laws, the Indian populace was prohibited from producing or selling salt independently, and instead Indians were required to buy expensive, heavily taxed salt that often was imported.
This affected the great majority of Indians, who were poor and could not afford to buy it.
Indian protests against the salt tax began in the 19th century and remained a major contentious issue throughout the period of British rule.

Build-up to the Dandi March

On 5 February 1930, newspapers reported that Gandhi would begin civil disobedience by defying the salt laws. The salt satyagraha would begin on 12 March and end in Dandi with Gandhi breaking the Salt Act on 6 April.
- Gandhi chose 6 April to launch the mass breaking of the salt laws for a symbolic reason—it was the first day of National Week, begun in 1919 when Gandhi conceived of the national hartal (strike) against the Rowlatt Act.
Gandhi prepared the worldwide media for the march by issuing regular statements from the Sabarmati Ashram, at his regular prayer meetings, and through direct contact with the press.
For the march itself, Gandhi wanted the strictest discipline and adherence to satyagraha and ahimsa.
For that reason, he recruited the marchers not from Congress Party members, but from the residents of his own ashram, who were trained in Gandhi’s strict standards of discipline.
The 24-day march would pass through 4 districts and 48 villages.
On 2 March 1930 Gandhi wrote to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, offering to stop the march if Irwin met eleven demands, including reduction of land revenue assessments, cutting military spending, imposing a tariff on foreign cloth, and abolishing the salt tax.
The Viceroy held any prospect of a “salt protest” in disdain. After he ignored the letter and refused to meet with Gandhi, the march was set in motion.

Timeline of the Dandi March

On 12 March 1930, Gandhi and 78 satyagrahis set out on foot for the coastal village of Dandi in Navsari district of Gujarat, 385 km from their starting point at Sabarmati Ashram.
The first day’s march of 21 km ended in the village of Aslali, where Gandhi spoke to a crowd of about 4,000.
As they entered each village, crowds greeted the marchers, beating drums and cymbals.
Gandhi gave speeches attacking the salt tax as inhuman, and the salt satyagraha as a “poor man’s struggle”.
Each night they slept in the open. The only thing that was asked of the villagers was food and water to wash with.
- Gandhi felt that this would bring the poor into the struggle for sovereignty and self-rule, necessary for eventual victory.
Upon arriving at the seashore of Dandi on 6^th April, Gandhi raised a lump of salty mud and declared, “With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.”
He then boiled it in seawater, producing illegal salt.
He implored his thousands of followers to likewise begin making salt along the seashore, “wherever it is convenient” and to instruct villagers in making illegal, but necessary, salt.

Impact of Dandi March

Mass civil disobedience spread throughout India as millions broke the salt laws by making salt or buying illegal salt.
Gandhi continued his satyagraha against the salt tax for the next two months, exhorting other Indians to break the salt laws by committing acts of civil disobedience.
Thousands were arrested and imprisoned, including Jawaharlal Nehru in April and Gandhi himself in early May after he informed Lord Irwin of his intention to march on the nearby Dharasana saltworks.
News of Gandhi’s detention led to tens of thousands more to join the satyagraha.
The march on the saltworks went ahead as planned on May 21, led by the poet Sarojini Naidu, and many of some 2,500 peaceful marchers were attacked and beaten by police.
Gandhi was released from custody in January 1931 and began negotiations with Lord Irwin aimed at ending the satyagraha campaign.
A truce subsequently was declared, which was formalized in the Gandhi-Irwin Pact that was signed on March 5, 1931.

Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram redevelopment project

PM Modi launched a master plan for the Sabarmati Gandhi Ashram redevelopment project in Ahmedabad, on the anniversary of the historic Dandi March.
The central government and Gujarat government are jointly implementing the Gandhi Ashram Memorial and Precinct Development Project at a cost of around Rs 1,200 crore.
During the inauguration, PM Modi emphasised the importance of conservation of heritage. He said, “A country which cannot conserve its heritage also loses its future.”
He stressed upon the need for the collective responsibility of all Indians to preserve this globally renowned site.
He outlined the government’s commitment to restoring old buildings to their original form, aiming to eliminate the necessity for new constructions.

Q1) Who was called ‘Madurai Gandhi’?

N. M. R. Subbaraman (14 August 1905 – 25 January 1983) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician from Tamil Nadu. He was a member of Parliament from the Madurai constituency (1962–1967). He was also called “Madurai Gandhi” for his Gandhian principles.

Q2) Who led Salt March in Tamil Nadu?

C. Rajagopalachari, a close associate of Gandhi, led the march which had close to 150 volunteers, most of who belonged to the Indian National Congress.