Why did the salt laws become an important issue of struggle?
(a) The salt laws gave the state a monopoly on the manufacture and sale of salt. This was thus one of the most disliked laws in British India.
(b) Salt was indispensable in any Indian household yet people could not make salt even for domestic use and had to by it from shops at a higher price.
(c) The salt laws deprived the people of the benefits of valuable village industry. Moreover to prevent people from having access to natural salt, tons of salt were destroyed.
(d) Destroying the extra natural salt involved national expenditure and the salt tax itself was a heavy burden on the people.
(e) Thus the salt laws were deeply unpopular and making these laws his target, Gandhi sought to mobilise a wider discontent against British rule.
