Gandhi leads civil disobedience

On March 12, 1930, Indian independence leader Mohandas Gandhi begins a defiant march to
the sea in protest of the British monopoly on salt, his boldest act of civil disobedience yet
against British rle in India!
Britain"s #alt $cts prohibited Indians from collecting or selling salt, a staple in the Indian
diet! %iti&ens 'ere forced to by the vital mineral from the British, 'ho, in addition to
e(ercising a monopoly over the manfactre and sale of salt, also e(erted a heavy salt ta(!
$lthogh India"s poor sffered most nder the ta(, Indians re)ired salt! *efying the #alt
$cts, Gandhi reasoned, 'old be an ingeniosly simple 'ay for many Indians to brea+ a
British la' nonviolently! ,e declared resistance to British salt policies to be the nifying
theme for his ne' campaign of satyagraha, or mass civil disobedience!
On March 12, Gandhi set ot from #abarmati 'ith -. follo'ers on a 2/10mile march to the
coastal to'n of *andi on the $rabian #ea! 1here, Gandhi and his spporters 'ere to defy
British policy by ma+ing salt from sea'ater! $ll along the 'ay, Gandhi addressed large
cro'ds, and 'ith each passing day an increasing nmber of people 2oined the salt satyagraha!
By the time they reached *andi on $pril 3, Gandhi 'as at the head of a cro'd of tens of
thosands! Gandhi spo+e and led prayers and early the ne(t morning 'al+ed do'n to the sea
to ma+e salt!
,e had planned to 'or+ the salt flats on the beach, encrsted 'ith crystalli&ed sea salt at
every high tide, bt the police had forestalled him by crshing the salt deposits into the md!
4evertheless, Gandhi reached do'n and pic+ed p a small lmp of natral salt ot of the
md00and British la' had been defied! $t *andi, thosands more follo'ed his lead, and in
the coastal cities of Bombay and 5arachi, Indian nationalists led cro'ds of citi&ens in ma+ing
salt! %ivil disobedience bro+e ot all across India, soon involving millions of Indians, and
British athorities arrested more than 60,000 people! Gandhi himself 'as arrested on May 3,
bt the satyagraha contined 'ithot him!
On May 21, the poet #aro2ini 4aid led 2,300 marchers on the *harasana #alt 7or+s, some
130 miles north of Bombay! #everal hndred British0led Indian policemen met them and
viciosly beat the peacefl demonstrators! 1he incident, recorded by $merican 2ornalist
7ebb Miller, prompted an international otcry against British policy in India!
In 8anary 1931, Gandhi 'as released from prison! ,e later met 'ith 9ord Ir'in, the viceroy
of India, and agreed to call off the satyagraha in e(change for an e)al negotiating role at a
9ondon conference on India"s ftre! In $gst, Gandhi traveled to the conference as the sole
representative of the nationalist Indian 4ational %ongress! 1he meeting 'as a
disappointment, bt British leaders had ac+no'ledged him as a force they cold not sppress
or ignore!
India"s independence 'as finally granted in $gst 19/-! Gandhi 'as assassinated by a
,ind e(tremist less than si( months later!