- Also called:
- Dandi March or Salt Satyagraha
- Date:
- March 1930 - April 1930
- Major Events:
- Gandhi-Irwin Pact
Salt March
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What was the Salt March?
The Salt March, a pivotal nonviolent protest in India led by Mahatma Gandhi in March–April 1930, was a key act of civil disobedience against British rule. Indians were prohibited from producing or selling salt and were required to buy expensive, heavily taxed salt from the British.
In early March 1930, Gandhi and a few dozen followers began a 240-mile march from his religious retreat to Dandi. Along the way, crowds gathered to hear Gandhi speak out against the unfair tax. On April 6, Gandhi and his followers picked up handfuls of salt along the shore, technically breaking the law. Gandhi's actions spurred tens of thousands more to join the satyagraha. By the end of 1930, about 60,000 people were jailed.
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Who led the Salt March and where did it take place?
The Salt March, a significant nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly in India, was led by Mahatma Gandhi in March–April 1930.
Gandhi and his followers marched over 240 miles from Sabarmati Ashram, near Ahmadabad, to Dandi, a coastal town in Gujarat. On April 6, they symbolically broke the law by collecting salt from the shore. This act of civil disobedience sparked a larger movement, garnering widespread support and drawing worldwide attention to the Indian struggle against British rule.
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Why did people protest about salt in India in 1930?
In 1930, Indians protested the British salt monopoly through the Salt March, a key act of civil disobedience led by Mahatma Gandhi. British laws forbade Indians from producing or selling salt, forcing them to buy expensive, heavily taxed salt. This hit the poor hard. Gandhi and his followers marched 240 miles to Dandi, Gujarat, where they broke the law by making salt on April 6. This sparked widespread civil disobedience, leading to the arrest of tens of thousands, including Gandhi and Sarojini Naidu.
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How did the British laws about salt affect Indians at the time?
The British salt laws prohibited Indians from producing or selling salt independently, which had long been a lucrative monopoly of the British. Indians were required to buy expensive, heavily taxed salt that often was imported, which affected the great majority of Indians, who could not afford it.
In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi led a major nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly called the Salt March. Gandhi and his followers marched 240 miles (385 km) from Sabarmati Ashram to the coastal town of Dandi, where they collected handfuls of salt along the shore, technically "producing" salt and breaking the law. Thousands of Indians joined Gandhi in acts of civil disobedience against the salt laws, resulting in mass arrests and imprisonment.
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What happened during the Salt March and how did people participate?
The Salt March, a key act of civil disobedience against the British salt monopoly in India, was led by Mahatma Gandhi in March–April 1930. Indians were prohibited from producing or selling salt and were forced to buy expensive, heavily taxed salt.
Gandhi and a few dozen followers began the 240-mile march from Sabarmati to Dandi on March 12. Along the way, crowds gathered to hear Gandhi speak, and hundreds more joined. On April 6, Gandhi and his followers broke the law by picking up handfuls of salt along the shore.
Thousands were arrested for civil disobedience, including Jawaharlal Nehru and Gandhi himself. Sarojini Naidu led a march on the saltworks, where peaceful marchers were attacked by police. By the end of the year, about 60,000 people were jailed. Gandhi was released in January 1931, and he negotiated with Lord Irwin, which led to the Gandhi-Irwin Pact.
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How did the Salt March influence the Indian independence movement and the struggle against British rule?
The Salt March, a nonviolent protest led by Mahatma Gandhi in 1930, significantly influenced the Indian independence movement. It was a campaign of satyagraha, or civil disobedience, against British rule.
The British had long held a lucrative monopoly over salt production and distribution, preventing Indians from producing or selling salt independently and forcing them to buy expensive, heavily taxed salt. Gandhi led a march from his religious retreat to the Arabian Sea coast, breaking the law by producing salt.
The Salt March garnered widespread support among the Indian population and drew considerable worldwide attention. Thousands were arrested for civil disobedience, and although negotiations and a truce occurred, the movement fueled the Indian struggle against British rule.
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Salt March, major nonviolent protest action in India led by Mahatma Gandhi in March–April 1930. The march was the first act in an even-larger campaign of civil disobedience (satyagraha) that Gandhi waged against British rule in India that extended into early 1931 and garnered Gandhi widespread support among the Indian populace and considerable worldwide attention.
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 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 of the subcontinent.
In early 1930 Gandhi decided to mount a highly visible demonstration against the increasingly repressive salt tax by marching through what is now the western Indian state of Gujarat from his religious retreat at Sabermati (near Ahmadabad) to the town of Dandi (near Surat) on the Arabian Sea coast. He set out on foot on March 12, 1930, accompanied by several dozen followers. After each day’s march the group stopped in a different village along the route, where increasingly larger crowds would gather to hear Gandhi protest the unfairness of the tax on poor people. Hundreds more would join the core group of followers as they made their way to the sea, and on April 5 the entourage reached Dandi after a journey of some 240 miles (385 km). On the morning of April 6, Gandhi and his followers picked up handfuls of salt along the shore, thus technically “producing” salt and breaking the law.
The Salt March was just one event in the century-long Indian Independence Movement. Learn more about the struggle against British rule in this timeline.
No arrests were made that day, and 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, the viceroy of India, of his intention to march on the nearby Dharasana saltworks. News of Gandhi’s detention spurred tens of thousands more to join the satyagraha. The march on the saltworks went ahead as planned on May 21, 1930, led by the poet Sarojini Naidu, and many of the some 2,500 peaceful marchers were attacked and beaten by police. By the end of the year, some 60,000 people were in jail.
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. The calming of tensions paved the way for Gandhi, representing the Indian National Congress, to attend the second session (September–December 1931) of the Round Table Conference in London.