Gandhi Begins Salt March: India Defies Empire

Mahatma Gandhi set out on a 240-mile march to the Arabian Sea on March 12, 1930, to protest Britain's salt monopoly, picking up thousands of followers along the way. When he reached Dandi twenty-four days later and scooped a handful of natural salt from the mud flats, the act of defiance against an unjust tax ignited a nationwide civil disobedience movement that drew over 60,000 arrests. The British salt laws made it illegal for any Indian to make, collect, or sell salt without paying a government tax. The levy fell hardest on the poorest citizens, who could barely afford the commodity essential to life in a tropical climate. Gandhi recognized that salt was the one issue capable of uniting India's deeply divided population across caste, religion, and class lines. Gandhi and 78 volunteers departed the Sabarmati Ashram at 6:30 AM on March 12. The marchers covered about 12 miles daily, sleeping in open fields and accepting only food and water from villages along the route. Foreign correspondents followed the procession, filing dispatches that turned the march into an international media event. The New York Times published front-page stories in the final days of the journey. At each village, local officials resigned their posts in solidarity. Crowds swelled from hundreds to thousands to tens of thousands. By the time the marchers reached the coast near Dandi, the procession stretched for over two miles. Gandhi arrived on April 5, prayed through the night, and walked to the shore at dawn on April 6 to break the salt laws. The act triggered mass civil disobedience across India. Indians manufactured salt on beaches and rooftops. British police responded with mass arrests and violent crackdowns, most notoriously at the Dharasana salt works, where American journalist Webb Miller documented police beating nonresisting protesters with steel-tipped clubs. The march did not end British rule, but it ended the illusion that British rule was just.