April 6th 1930: Salt March ends

April 6th 1930: Salt March ends

On this day in 1930, the Salt March protest in India ended at the coastal village of Dandi. The march was led by Indian activist Mohandas Gandhi, and saw thousands of protestors walk 240 miles from Ahmedabad to the Arabian Sea coast. They were protesting the British monopoly on salt production and distribution that unfairly taxed Indian producers and consumers. When Gandhi initially embarked upon his march on March 12th he was accompanied by under one hundred followers. However, as the march progressed it galvanised the local populations and thousands joined their cause. On April 6th, at the completion of the march, Gandhi broke the salt laws by seizing a lump of salty mud on the shore, thus ‘producing’ salt; his supporters followed suit in mass acts of civil disobedience. The salt protests resulted in the arrests of around 60,000 protestors across India - included Gandhi himself - which only spurred others to join the movement. On May 21st, the poet Sarojini Naidu led a march on a salt works which was broken up by police who brutally attacked the peaceful demonstrators. This violence was broadcast around the world, and drew international attention to the mistreatment of Indians under British colonial rule. The salt marches led to Gandhi being included at a London conference on Indian policy, demonstrating that the British authorities realised they could not ignore the independence movement. Indian independence was finally achieved in August 1947, after a long and hard fought battle for Indian freedom. Sadly, Gandhi was assassinated in January 1948, only living to see a few months of his country’s long-awaited independence.