The
Dandi March or the Dandi Satyagraha, was an act of nonviolent civil
disobedience in colonial India led by Mahatma Gandhi. The 24-day march lasted
from 12 March 1930 to 5 April 1930 as a direct action campaign of tax
resistance and nonviolent protest against the British salt monopoly. Another
reason for this march was that the Civil Disobedience Movement needed a strong
inauguration that would inspire more people to follow Gandhi's example. Gandhi
started this march with 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march spanned 350 km,
from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, which was called Navsari at that time (now in
the state of Gujarat). Growing numbers of Indians joined them along the way.
When Gandhi broke the British Raj salt laws at 6:30 am on 6 April 1930, it
sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the salt laws by
millions of Indians.
After
making the salt by evaporation at Dandi, Gandhi continued southward along the
coast, making salt and addressing meetings on the way. The Congress Party
planned to stage a satyagraha at the Dharasana Salt Works, 25 mi (40 km) south
of Dandi.
However,
Gandhi was arrested on the midnight of 4–5 May 1930, just days before the
planned action at Dharasana. The Dandi March and the ensuing Dharasana
Satyagraha drew worldwide attention to the Indian independence movement through
extensive newspaper and newsreel coverage. The satyagraha against the salt tax
continued for almost a year, ending with Gandhi's release from jail and
negotiations with Viceroy Lord Irwin at the Second Round Table Conference.
Although over 60,000 Indians were jailed as a result of the Salt Satyagraha,
the British did not make immediate major concessions.
The
Salt Satyagraha campaign was based upon Gandhi's principles of non-violent
protest called satyagraha. Literally, it is formed from the Sanskrit words
satya, "truth", and agraha, "insistence".
In
early 1930 the Indian National Congress chose satyagraha as their main tactic
for winning Indian sovereignty and self-rule from British rule and appointed
Gandhi to organise the campaign. Gandhi chose the 1882 British Salt Act as the
first target of satyagraha. The Salt March to Dandi, and the beating by British
police of hundreds of nonviolent protesters in Dharasana, which received
worldwide news coverage, demonstrated the effective use of civil disobedience
as a technique for fighting social and political injustice. The satyagraha
teachings of Gandhi and the March to Dandi had a significant influence on
American activists. The march was the most significant organised challenge to British
authority and directly followed the Poorna Swaraj declaration of sovereignty
and self-rule by the Indian National Congress on 26 January 1930.
It gained worldwide attention which gave impetus to the Indian independence movement and started the nationwide Civil Disobedience Movement.