Prime Minister Narendra Modi said “Dandi March remains a watershed moment in our history. Tributes to all patriots who joined the March, inspired by Gandhi ji’s leadership.” The march, also known as Salth Satygraha (struggle) was Gandhi’s action plan to draw attention to repressive laws imposed upon Indians by the British, when they ruled India.
The British had banned the production of salt by Indians, who were only allowed to purchase the essential mineral at exorbitant rates imposed by the British administration. Gandhi and his supporters marched 240 miles from his ashram at Sabarmati, to a small hamlet named Dandi on the Indian coast in the region of Gujarat, where they evaporated sea water and produced salt.
The government had also earlier inaugurated the Dandi Kutir, a museum dedicated to Gandhi’s life, which is shaped like a salt mound. Modi had written at the time, “Mahatma Gandhi – a global citizen, identity of an era. A legacy of human-centric development. A source of an unending power of the unfailing weapon of non-violence.”
Gandhi’s non-violent protest snowballed across the country, and as more Indians produced their own salt, British authorities cracked down and arrested over 60,000 Indians. However, Gandhi eventually brought the Britishers to the table, and negotiated an end to the salt tax and the release of the prisoners. The worldwide coverage given to the protest also shook the British, and began a long and gradual process leading to Indian independence in 1947.
Time magazine called the march one of the five most significant protests in history. It was an ideal method of protest, because collecting salt was a completely non-violent activity and involved a commodity that was truly important to Indians. The protest continued until Gandhi was granted bargaining rights at a negotiation in London.
