Explain the main events of Dandi march in easy language
Answers
Under the leadership of Gandhiji, the Civil Disobedience Movement was launched in AD 1930. It began with the Dandi March. On 12 March 1930, Gandiji with some of his followers left the Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmedabad and made their way towards Dandi, a village on the west coast of India. After travelling for twenty-five days and covering a distance of three hundred and eighty-five kms, the group reached Dandi on 6 April 1930. Here, Gandhiji protested against the Salt Law (salt was a monopoly of the government and no one was allowed to make salt) by making slat himself and throwing up a challenge to the British government. The Dandi March signified the start of the Civil Disobedience Movement.
The movement spread and salt laws were challenged in other parts of the country. Salt became the symbol of people’s defiance of the government. In Tamil Nadu, C Rajagopalchari led a similar march from Trichinopoly to Vedaranyam. In Gujarat, Sarojini Naidu pretested in front of the slat depots. Lakhs of people including a large number of women participated actively in these protests.
The Civil Disobedience Movement carried forward the unfinished work of the Non-Cooperation Movement. Practically the whole country became involved in it. Hartals put life at a standstill. There were large-scale boycotts of schools, colleges and offices. Foreign goods were burnt in bonfires. People stopped paying taxes. In the North-West Frontier Province, the movement was led by Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, popularly known as ‘Frontier Gandhi’. For a few days, British control over Peshawar and Sholapur ended. People faced the batons and bullets of the police with supreme courage. No one retaliated or said anything to the police. As reports and photographs of this extraordinary protest began to appear in newspapers across the world, there was a growing tide of support for India’s freedom struggle.
Answer:
Dandi March or Salt March
Dandi March or Salt March, also referred as the Dandi Satyagraha, was a the 24-day Salt March, which was non-violent in nature and is historically significant as it led to the mass Civil Disobedience Movement. The Salt March was an act of civil disobedience led by Mohandas Gandhi to protest British rule in India.
The place Gandhiji selected as the site for his symbolic breaking of the provisions of the hated Salt Tax, was Dandi, a seaside village in Gujarat. He decided to march the full distance of 241 miles, from his ashram at Ahmedabad, with a select band of co-workers. On the way thousands more people joined the march. The Dandi March resulted in the arrest of nearly 60,000 people, including Gandhi himself. But the movement continued without him. It gained more supporters and began to spread.
Cause of Dandi March and Outcome:
Gandhi's plan was to begin civil disobedience with a satyagraha aimed at the British salt tax. The 1882 Salt Act gave the British a monopoly on the collection and manufacture of salt, limiting its handling to government salt depots and levying a salt tax. Violation of the Salt Act was a criminal offence.
The Salt March was one of the first major demonstrations of nonviolent resistance to the British colonial rule led by Mahatma Gandhi. As such, it set forth many of the principles followed in later actions as the Indian independence movement gained momentum as more followers joined the movement. India finally became a sovereign nation in 1947. The influence of the Dandi Satyagraha is far reaching. It has become the main tool of protest by the common people against tyrannical leaders and regimes all across the world.