Gandhi's Salt March

Setting the scene

By 1930, India had been under British rule for 170 years. The British Salt Act of 1882 made it illegal for Indians to collect or sell salt, forcing them to buy heavily taxed British salt—a tax that hit the poorest hardest, as salt was essential for survival in India's heat. Mohandas Gandhi, who had returned from South Africa in 1915 where he developed satyagraha (nonviolent resistance), sought an issue that would unite all Indians—Hindu and Muslim, rich and poor—in civil disobedience. Salt was perfect: everyone needed it, and the tax was universally hated.

What happened

On March 12, 1930, Gandhi, then 61, set out from his Sabarmati Ashram with 78 followers on a 240-mile march to the coastal village of Dandi. They walked about 12 miles per day, with Gandhi giving speeches to growing crowds. The British were initially dismissive, with Viceroy Lord Irwin calling it a 'silly salt scheme.' On April 5, they reached Dandi. The next morning, April 6, Gandhi walked into the sea, picked up a lump of salty mud, and boiled it to make illegal salt, technically breaking the law. He told reporters, 'With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.'

Why it still matters

The Salt March sparked nationwide civil disobedience—millions of Indians made illegal salt, boycotted British cloth, and resigned from government jobs. The British arrested over 60,000 people, including Gandhi on May 5. The march made Gandhi world-famous—Time magazine put him on its cover, and newsreels showed the frail man in a loincloth defying the British Empire. It forced the British to negotiate, leading to the Gandhi-Irwin Pact in 1931. The march demonstrated nonviolent resistance's power and became the template for civil rights movements worldwide, directly inspiring Martin Luther King Jr.'s campaigns in the 1950s and 60s. It was the turning point that made Indian independence inevitable, achieved in 1947.

Background

It became an iconic act of civil disobedience.