With reference to the Mass Phase of the National Movement, answer the following:
Briefly explain the Dandi March of 1930.
Topic: The Dandi March
Answer
The Dandi March, or Salt Satyagraha, launched the Civil Disobedience Movement. Gandhiji set out from the SABARMATI ASHRAM on 12 MARCH 1930 with 78 chosen followers and walked about 385 km to the coastal village of DANDI, gathering thousands along the way.
On 6 APRIL 1930 he reached the sea and broke the salt law by picking up a handful of natural salt, declaring that he was shaking the foundations of the British Empire.
Salt was chosen deliberately: the government monopoly and tax on it hurt the poorest Indians, so the protest was instantly intelligible to everyone. Across the country people began making salt illegally, and the movement spread into the boycott of foreign cloth and liquor and the refusal to pay taxes.
Three marks: the journey, the act of breaking the law, and the significance. The dates and the route are what earn the first two marks — Sabarmati to Dandi, 12 March to 6 April 1930, 385 km, 78 followers. The third mark is for WHY SALT: it was the one tax that touched every Indian household, which turned a legal technicality into a mass movement. Examiners look for that insight.