Gandhi Jayanti 2020 Image: Mahatma Gandhi started Salt Satyagraha on March 12, 1930
Gandhi Jayanti 2020: India celebrates the 151st birthday of Mahatma Gandhi tomorrow. Events and campaigns have been organized across the country for Gandhi Jayanti, to pay tribute to the man who gave the world the philosophy of ‘Ahimsa’ or non-violence. At Gandhi Jayanti it is important that we try to follow him and encourage each other to understand his ideals. In a world plagued by hatred and violence, the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi are now of great importance. “Ahimsa is intended for the brave, never the coward,” said Mahatma Gandhi. During India’s fight for freedom, Mahatma Gandhi’s call to the Quit India Movement or the famous Salt Satyagraha, were based on non-violence.
Gandhi Jayanti 2020: Know All About Salt Satyagraha
- Mahatma Gandhi’s Salt Satyagraha or the famous Dandi March was part of the civil disobedience movement to protest against British rule in India.
- Britain’s Salt Act of 1882 did not allow Indians to collect, manufacture or sell salt. The Indians were forced to buy salt from the colonial rulers, who had a monopoly on salt.
- The British also levied a heavy salt tax, and millions of the country’s poor people suffered.
- On March 2, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi wrote to the viceroy, Lord Irwin, that he and his volunteers would violate the salt law.
- The whole country was excited by the call for Salt Satyagraha. On March 12, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi began his march to Dandi with 78 volunteers.
- During the march, thousands followed Mahatma Gandhi from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a village on the coast of the Arabian Sea, some 240 miles away.
- Gandhiji and his volunteers stopped along the way to talk to people and explain the need to reform the salt.
- The world watched as Mahatma Gandhi marched for 24 days. The number of people grew with each passing day; thousands of people joined him, men, women and children.
- The Dandi March ended on April 5. Gandhiji and some of his followers walked to the seashore and broke the salt law by collecting salt.
- Mahatma Gandhi advised people to ignore British law and openly make salt and prepare to resist police action in a non-violent way.
Gandhi Jayanti 2020: What Mahatma Gandhi Said on the Eve of Salt Satyagraha
- “That there is no semblance of a breach of the peace even after we have all been arrested.”
- “We have resolved to use all our resources in the pursuit of an exclusively non-violent struggle”
- “A Satyagrahi, whether free or imprisoned, is always victorious. He is only defeated when he abandons truth and non-violence and turns a deaf ear to the inner voice”
- “If, therefore, there is defeat even for a Satyagrahi, he alone is the cause. God bless you all and keep all obstacles out of the way in the fight that begins tomorrow.”
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