Penal sections of the Salt Act (dated 1882)
---any person convicted of an offence under section 9,
shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend
to six months.
--all contraband salt, and every vessel, animal or conveyance
used in carrying contraband salt shall be liable to confiscation.
--any salt-revenue officer guilty of cowardice shall on conviction
before a magistrate be punished with imprisonment which may
extend to three months.
Prelude, In 1930 Mahatma Gandhi was looking
for a subject which could unite the independence movement.
February 15th the Congress Working Committee authorized Mahatma
Gandhi and his associates to launch civil disobedience "as
and when they desire and to the extent they decide".
2 March, Letter to Lord Irwin: ‘
Dear Friend, Before embarking on civil disobedience and taking
the risk that I have dreaded to take all these years, I would
fain approach you and find a way out. If India is to live
as a nation, if the slow death by starvation of her people
is to stop, some remedy must be found for immediate relief.
I respectfully invite you to pave the way for immediate removal
of those evils, and thus open a way for a real conference
between equals. But if you cannot see your way to deal with
these evils and my letter makes no appeal to your heart, on
the 12th day of this month I shall proceed with such co-workers
of the Ashram as I can take, to disregard the provisions of
the salt laws.’
(The letter was delivered by the British co-worker and Quaker
Reginald Reynolds, as an intention to be symbolic of the fact,
that this not merely was a struggle between the Indians and
the British.)
Dated excerpts of speeches by Mahatma Gandhi During the Dandi
March.
8 March, mass meeting at Ahmedabad, thousands
of men and women pledge a solemn oath before the march: “We
the citizens of Ahmedabad, hereby resolve to follow our comrades
to jail, or win complete independence. We believe that India's
freedom is to be won through peaceful and truthful means.”
9 March Instructions: The Satyagrahi party
is expected to reach each place by 8 o'clock in the morning
and to sit down for lunch between 10.00 and 10.30 a.m. The
food supplied, whether cooked or uncooked, should be the simplest
possible. It is desirable that information under the following
heads should be kept ready for each village:
-
Population
- Number
of untouchables
- If
there is a school in the village, the number of boys and
girls attending it
- Number
of spinning-wheels
- The
monthly sale of Khadi
- Number
of people wearing Khadi exclusively
- Salt
consumed per head, salt used by cattle, etc.
- Number
of cows and buffaloes in the village
- The
amount of land revenue paid, at what rate per acre
- The
area of the common grazing-ground if any
- Do
the people drink? How far is the liquor shop from the village?
- Educational
and other special facilities, if any, for the untouchables
It will be good if this information is written out on a
sheet of paper neatly and handed to me immediately on our
arrival
10 March, at mass meeting at Sabarmati Ashram:
“Supposing ten men in each of the 700,000 villages in
India come forward to manufacture salt and to disobey the
Salt Act, what do you think can this Government do?”
11 March, Prayer Meeting at Sabarmati Ashram:
“There can be no turning back for us hereafter. We will
keep on our fight till Swaraj is established in India. Those
of them that are married should take leave of their wives.
We are as good as parting from the Ashram and from our homes.
Let nobody assume that after I am arrested there will be no
one left to guide them. It is not I but Pandit Jawaharlal
who is your guide. He has the capacity to lead.”
12 March, The Salt march begins 6,30 a.m.
78+2 volunteers & Mahatma Gandhi from the Ashram begin
the first day of the 241 miles long march. Thousands of people
join the group on their way, by the time they reach Dandi,
24 Days later, the entire Nation is on the move, the attention
of the entire world is focused on the actions of this frail
old man and his band of marchers.
13 March, at Bareja: “The village has
a large number of Christians and Muslims also. If you all
come together, you will be able to achieve much for the village.”
14 March, at Vasana: “And I ask you
to believe me when I prophesy that a day will come when the
British will apologize to us.”
15 March, Speech at Dabhan: “If you
feel strong enough, give up Government jobs, enlist yourselves
as soldiers in this Salt Satyagraha, burn your foreign cloth
and wear Khadi. Give up liquor. There are many things within
your power through which you can secure the keys which will
open the gates of freedom”.
16 March, at Boriavi: “In this peaceful
struggle there is no room for coercion of any kind. We will
coerce no Englishmen nor any of our countrymen. I do not want
anyone to resign under compulsion. They have jailed your Sardar.
We must get him released from prison and, you have proved
your strength if you can see to it that he is out in one month
instead of three”.
17 March, at Anand: “Students of Anand,
you are like salt in the sea of Patidars. If the salt loses
its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? You must suspend
your studies for as long time as this struggle continues”.
23 March, at Buva: “Although I make
strong speeches and have set out to violate the law, the Government
dare not arrest me. Why are you afraid of such a Government?
What could they do if there were 80,000 volunteers?
25 March, at Tralsa: “In Dandi, a Muslim
has invited me and I will be putting up in his bungalow. Satyagraha
will commence from the Muslim's friend's house. I want their
blessings so that I may achieve success in my religious fight”.
26 March, at Ankleshwar: “One can understand
the Government levying a tax on ghee. Liquor or cigarettes
can also be taxed. But this Government levies a duty on an
item which is consumed by the poorest of the poor. We are
lucky, at any rate, that there is no tax on the air we breathe!”
28 March, on the bank of River Kim: “This
is the last week of our pilgrimage. At its very beginning,
let us wash away our sins. We have come across a river while
crossing the boundary of each district. We regard a river
as sacred”.
29 March, at Bhatgam: “Extravagance
has no room in this campaign. If we cannot gather crowds unless
we carry on a hurricane expensive propaganda, I would be satisfied
to address half a dozen men and women”.
30 March, at Sandhiyer: “Cloth merchants
of Bombay have come here today. They have realized the importance
of the boycott of foreign cloth far more then they did in
1921.”
1 April, at Chhaprabhatha: “Every day
people tell me, "Today you will certainly be arrested".
However, the tiger does not appear!”
3 April, at Vanjh: “I told you about
the scarcity of water in Dandi. We shall have to use water
as if it was milk, like the Jain Sadhu who lived in the forest.
The Government intends to use fire-engines to stop us. We
have prepared ourselves for death from cannons and guns, compared
to which this is nothing.”
5 April, Statement to Associated Press at
Dandi: “I cannot withhold my compliments from the Government
for the policy of complete non-interference adopted by them
throughout the march. I can put upon this non- interference
is that the British Government, powerful though it is, is
sensitive to world opinion which will not tolerate repression
of extreme political agitation which civil disobedience undoubtedly
is, so long as disobedience remains civil and therefore, necessarily
non-violent. God willing, I expect with my company to commence
actual civil disobedience at 6,30 tomorrow morning. 6th April
has been to us, since its culmination in Jalianwala Baag
massacre, a day for penance and purification. We therefore,
commence it with prayer and fasting.”
Press Statement to Eastern News and Press Agency, N.Y., USA:
“In all humility but in perfect truth I claim that if
we attain our end through non-violent means India will have
delivered a message for the world.”
6 April, At Dandi: Mahatma Gandhi perform
a ceremonial breach of the salt law by picking up a lump of
salt mixed with mud, and calling upon massive civil disobedience.
After refining the mud 15 Oz. Of Salt was extracted, this
salt was repeatedly auctioned in Ahmadabad later.
13th April, Nehru and a number of delegates
of the Congress were arrested.
3rd May Gandhi wrote a letter to Lord Irwin, the Viceroy,
informing him of his plan to raid Dharasana Salt Works.
5th May, At midnight Gandhi was arrested
at Karadi. And secretly whisked away to Yerwada Jail in Pune.
12th May to 6th June, The raid on Dharasana
Salt Works continued in the face of terrible atrocities by
the Colonial Police. On 6th June at the onset of Monsoons
when the Satyagraha was eventually called of 4 Satyagrahi’s
had succumbed to injuries inflicted by the police, 1,329 had
been grievously injured, 59 had braved police beatings more
than twice, 286 had been imprisoned, 2,640 people had participated
in the raid on Dharasana.
26th January 1931, Gandhiji released from
Yerwada Jail Poona.
4th March 1931 the Gandhi-Irwin Pact was
signed, containing decisions of the Round Table Conference
in London.
Sources:
Young India, 1930-1931
Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi volyme 43, Navajivan Trust
1971
Gandhi in India ed. Martin Green, University Press of New
England 1987
photostat Letters of 1930 - 1931, Asia Publishing House 1958
The Bombay Chronicle 7-4-1930
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