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Breaking of salt law signified the launching of this movement by Gandhiji.
Answers
Covering the distance of 386 km from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi on foot, the 62-year-old 'Bapu' was first joined by hundreds and then thousands on his way. It was the start of the civil disobedience movement which commenced as Mahatma Gandhi broke the salt law on the coastal town of Dandi on the Arabian Sea on April 5. Dandi March is also known as Namak Satyagrah or Salt Satyagrah.
British had the monopoly over salt manufacturing and selling. The Namak Satyagrah was in protest against the steep tax the British levied on salt. It was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India to produce salt from seawater, as it had been practised by the Indian people. The British officials deemed such production illegal and forced the people to buy it at expensive rates.
Although salt was not the main problem Indians were facing under British rule, it was chosen to symbolize the start of civil disobedience movement because salt was deemed as something on which each Indian had the basic right. Also, salt could be made free of cost from the ocean instead of paying hefty taxes on its purchase from the British.
And so, Mahatma Gandhi declared resistance to British salt policies to be the unifying theme for the civil disobedience movement and thus started Dandi March.
The gesture which marked the breaking of the British Salt Law
Although the plan of Dandi March was to reach the coastal town and work the salt flats on the beach which were encrusted with crystallized sea salt at every high tide, the police crushed the salt deposits into the mud. So Mahatma Gandhi reached down and picked up a small lump of natural salt out of the mud, thus, defying the British salt law.
Answer:
Eighty eight years ago, the day of March 12 gave the Indian freedom struggle a new direction. The non-violent movement of Mahatma Gandhi came to the offensive this day when the Father of the Nation took off for Dandi March from his Ashram at Sabarmati in Ahmedabad.
Covering the distance of 386 km from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi on foot, the 62-year-old 'Bapu' was first joined by hundreds and then thousands on his way. It was the start of the civil disobedience movement which commenced as Mahatma Gandhi broke the salt law on the coastal town of Dandi on the Arabian Sea on April 5. Dandi March is also known as Namak Satyagrah or Salt Satyagrah.