12th March 1930: Gandhi begins the Salt March of 240-miles to the coastal village of Dandi

The Salt March took place just two months after the Indian National Congress promulgated the Declaration of the Independence of India, which supported the idea of civil disobedience to achieve complete self-rule. Gandhi chose to focus his protest on the 1882 Salt Act which placed a government monopoly on the collection and manufacture of salt. Gandhi claimed that, ‘next to air and water, salt is perhaps the greatest necessity of life.’ He wrote to the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, ahead of his protest in an attempt to negotiate but the Viceroy refused to meet him. Gandhi and 79 supporters departed his base at Sabarmati Ashram on 12 March, and by the end of the twenty-four day march had built a procession that reportedly stretched for two miles. He intended to produce salt from seawater to avoid paying tax and thus undermine Britain’s salt monopoly. After he broke the Salt Laws by picking up a piece of natural salt at Dandi on 6 April, millions of people around the country did the same. Meanwhile, international media coverage of the march brought the issue of Indian independence to a worldwide audience. The British authorities responded by arresting 60,000 people by the end of April. Gandhi himself was jailed on 5 May. Despite this reaction, Gandhi called off the civil disobedience campaign in January 1931. This led to him attending the Round Table Conference in London where he began to discuss India's demands for independence as an equal negotiating partner.