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7th
anniversary of Dandi
Dandi
Paved the Way to Freedom
Bhanwar
Singh Chaudhary
 It
was on 12th March, 1930, that Mohandas Karamchand
Gandhi, aged 61, with 80 of his young satyagrahis ventured
out from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad in Gujarat to defy
the British imposed Salt law. After 24 days' padayatra and
walking about 241 kms. Gandhiji reached the sea shore at
Dandi on 6th April, 1930 and picked a fistful
of salt from the shore and thereby defied the restriction
imposed by the British rulers on making or buying salt from
any other source other than the British. The Satyagrahis
then started making salt at the shore where thousands of
people had collected and violated the British rule.
In
this way Gandhiji took his Satyagraha movement forward which
was started by him in South Africa. Actually, Dandi March
was part of the same movement which Gandhiji used to call
satyagraha or the discovery of truth. By making a very small
quantity of salt Gandhiji had stormed the British empire.
The salt satyagraha had inspired Indian people as well as
the freedom lovers all over the world. After this movement
the British empire had become helpless and Gandhiji's Non-cooperation
movement gained strength and momentum. As a result of this
non-violent satyagraha, India attained freedom on August
15, 1947.
There
is also a historical reason behind the selection of Dandi
for Salt satyagraha, because when the Britishers came to
India, they first landed at the Surat port which is about
50 kilometres away from Dandi. This is the reason that Gandhiji
decided to break the Salt law there. While living in Sabarmati
Ashram, Gandhiji had decided to violate the Salt law and
chose the date and the route to be taken by satyagrahis.
After
the arrival of Gandhiji in India the freedom movement gained
strength and spread all over the country under his leadership.
He travelled throughout the country and came in close touch
with the people. He placed his opinion regarding the non-violence
and satyagraha before them. He made them understand the
ideology of non-violence and satyagraha. He declared that
the non-violent satyagraha was the only way to attain freedom.
The
Britishers had tried their best to suppress the freedom
movement. Gandhiji and the Indian National Congress had
called a nationwide strike on April 6, 1919. The strike
had great impact on the nation. Workers struck work, shops
were closed, factories and schools remained shut allover
India. Jallianwala Bagh massacre took place on April 13
in which thousands of people were killed. Gandhiji strongly
condemned this massacre and launched a non-cooperation and
civil disobedience movement throughout the country. He called
upon the people to boycott foreign clothes. People burnt
foreign clothes and began wearing khadi made on the charkha.
He said this would make the British economy weak and the
Britishers would be compelled to quit India. It made a very
strong impact on the country.
Gandhiji
and the Indian National Congress passed a resolution demanding
complete freedom on the banks of the river Ravi on January
26, 1919 and decided to expedite the movement. During this
period, the world-famous poet, Rabindranath Tagore met Gandhiji
in Sabarmati Ashram and asked him about his future plan
for the country. In his reply, Gandhiji said, "I am
thinking 24 hours on this. Actually, Gandhiji was in search
of such issues which could expose the evil and injustice
of the British empire so that the whole nation could be
awakened. It is said that Gandhiji kept thinking on this
for about six weeks. After this, he heard the inner voice
which instructed him to violate the Salt law.
Although
Gandhiji had given up consuming salt a few years before
but he felt that the Salt law was unfair to the commonmen
who used to make salt from sea water. Gandhiji wanted to
expose the injustice the British was meting out to the people
of India. But, the then British Viceroy Lord Irwin had made
a comment terming it as "Mr. Gandhi's mad plan to overturn
British empire with a little salt."
Before
finalizing the plan of Salt Satyagraha, Gandhiji wrote in
his weekly _ Young India, that salt comes second
after water as an item which is widely used by everyone.
He wrote that such a Government is illegal which snatches
away salt from the people and sells it at a high price by
imposing tax upon it. The people have full right to take
the matter into their own hands.
Before
starting the Salt Satyagraha, Gandhiji wrote a letter to
the then Viceroy, Lord Irwin calling him "dear friend".
He wrote, "before starting non-cooperation and civil
disobedience movement, I have been fearing from taking such
a risk. I am writing you to search for other options. Although
I believe that the British empire in India is a curse, I
do not have any motive to harm any Britisher. The British
empire has exploited and it has made lakhs of our people
dumb and pauper."
In
this letter to the Viceroy, Gandhiji mentioned that if there
is no action over the letter by 19th of the month,
he alongwith his friends will be defying the salt law. This
letter has not been written in terms of a threat. Gandhiji
had sent this letter through a British citizen who used
to live in his Ashram.
After
getting no response from the Viceroy, Gandhiji kept the
Satyagraha preparation going and at last during the evening
prayer meeting in Sabarmati Ashram on March 11, 1930, where
thousands of people were present, he said, "I have
a perfect belief in the holiness of my objective and resources.
When our resources are pure and right, then even God grants
success. I pray that may God do good to everyone and remove
every obstruction regarding tomorrow's movement.
The
next day, March 12, morning the greatman of lean and thin
structure, wearing a coarse khadi dhoti and a chadar, wrapping
around came out alongwith 78 Satyagrahis. That time lakhs
of people from Ahmedabad and its surrounding area gathered
at Sabarmati Ashram and the nearby roads. After a continuous
padayatra of 24 days and by finally making salt at Dandi
he paved the way for India's freedom. n
(The
author is a Congress worker from Bhilwara, Rajasthan)
| Time
for Rededication |
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The
Indian National Congress is celebrating the 75th anniversary
of Bapu’s historic Salt Satyagraha that was launched
on March 12, 1930 from Ahmedabad and culminated at
Dandi on 6 April, 1930. The objective is to recall
and recapture the spirit of the Dandi March. The Indian
National Congress will also be re-establishing its
resolve to protecting and promoting Gandhian values
and the values enshrined in our Constitution, especially
those relating to social harmony and social justice.
This will also be an occasion for rededicating ourselves
to realizing Poorna Swaraj through Gram Swaraj.
The
Indian National Congress sees this re-enactment of
the Dandi March as an opportunity of making our younger
generation more aware and appreciative of the great
legacy that we have inherited from the Father of the
Nation and his dedicated colleagues who made us a
free country. We must all come together to protect
this legacy from the forces who seek to divide and
polarize our people.
Sonia
Gandhi
New
Delhi
March 9, 2005
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| Recalling
Gandhiji’s Spirit |
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I
am happy that the All India Congress Committee is
celebrating the 75th Anniversary of Bapu’s historic
Salt Satyagraha, by reliving the experience of the
Dandi March.
In
celebrating the Platinum Jubilee of the Salt Satyagraha,
I hope the entire Nation will be inspired once again
by the spirit of idealism and self-sacrifice that
characterized this High Noon of our freedom struggle.
With nothing more than the salt of our own land, Mahatma
Gandhiji made colonial rule unpalatable in a non-violent
manner that captured the imagination of the entire
world.
In
recalling this spirit of nationalism, every Indian
must rediscover pride in our quest for freedom and
self-respect. We must recapture the determination
of our forefathers who won us liberation from colonial
rule. We have came a long way in these 75 years and
today India stands tall in the comity of Nations,
as an independent Republic committed to the principles
of freedom, secularism, pluralism and the welfare
of all. This achievement is heightened by the fact
that we achieved all this after a long non-violent
and principled struggle.
I
hope generations to come will recall this spirit of
our national movement and rededicate themselves to
building a prosperous, peace loving and humane India.
I wish the celebrations all success.
Manmohan
Singh
New
Delhi
March 6, 2005
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