Why was the state monopoly in the manufacture and sale of salt unpopular among the masses ? Also explain how the Salt March of Mahatma Gandhi was notable.

Or

Why was salt the symbol of protest according to Gandhiji? Explain. (C.B.S.E. 2009 Foreign)

Assess the significance of Salt March in India’s freedom struggle. How did the British Government react to it?

I. Salt Satyagraha:

(i) Soon after the observance of this “Independence Day” (it means 26 January, 1930) Mahatma Gandhi announced that he would lead a march to break one of the most widely disliked laws in British India, which gave the state a monopoly in the manufacture and sale of salt.

(ii) The state monopoly over salt was deeply unpopular, by making it his target, Gandhiji hoped to mobilise a wider discontent against British rule. On 12 March, 1930, Gandhiji began walking from his ashram at Sabarmati towards the ocean. He reached his destination three weeks later, making a fistful of salt he did and thereby making himself a criminal in the eyes of the law. Meanwhile parallel salt marches were being conducted in other parts of the country.

(iii) The progress of Gandhiji’s march to the seashore can be traced from the secret reports filed by the police officials deputed to monitor his movements. These reproduce the speeches he gave at the villages on route, in which he called upon local officials to renounce government employment and join the freedom struggle.

II. Importance of Salt March : The Salt March was notable for at least three reasons :

(i) It was this event that first brought Mahatma Gandhi to world attention. The March was widely covered by the European and American press.

(ii) It was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers. The socialist activist Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay had persuaded Gandhiji not to restrict the protests to men alone. Kamaladevi was herself one of numerous women who courted arrest by breaking the salt or liquor laws.

(iii) Perhaps most significant, it was the Salt March which forced upon the British the realisation that their Raj would not last forever, and that they would have to devolue some power to India.

III. Government’s Reaction : British Government take stringent measures to crush the movements of people. Thousand of nationalists were but behind the bars all over the country. Gandhiji was arrested. So, Salt March left a deep impact on our national struggle for freedom.