Salt March & Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)

📜 Background

  • 31 Jan 1930 – Gandhi wrote to Viceroy Lord Irwin listing 11 demands, the key one: Abolition of salt tax.
  • British had monopoly over salt production & taxed it heavily → Gandhi called it “the most oppressive law” as salt was a basic necessity for both rich & poor.
  • Irwin refused to negotiate → Gandhi decided on a direct action.

🚶 The Dandi March

  • Start: 12 March 1930 from Sabarmati Ashram with 78 volunteers.
  • Route: Sabarmati → Dandi (Gujarat coast).
  • Distance: ~240 km, covered in 24 days.
  • End: 6 April 1930 → Gandhi broke salt law by making salt from seawater.
  • This marked the official launch of the Civil Disobedience Movement.

🌊 Effects of Salt Satyagraha

  • ~60,000 people, including Gandhi, arrested.
  • Thousands of women joined the protests.
  • Non-violent nature made it hard for the British to suppress.
  • Regional marches:
    • K. Kelappan → Malabar region (Calicut → Payyanur).
    • C. Rajagopalachari → South-east coast (Trichy → Vedaranyam, Tamil Nadu).

⚡ Causes of Civil Disobedience Movement

  • Failure of British to grant Dominion Status.
  • Simon Commission boycott (no Indian members).
  • Growing youth leadership & social revolutionaries.
  • Policy of brutal repression by colonial govt.

📈 Spread & Actions of CDM (1930–1934)

  • Spread across India.
  • Colonial laws violated: Salt made in many places, foreign cloth burnt, liquor shops picketed.
  • Peasants refused to pay land revenue & chaukidari tax.
  • Forest laws openly violated.

👥 Different Perspectives in CDM

1. Business Class

  • Profited during WWI, wanted protection from foreign goods.
  • FICCI (1927) backed CDM initially, attacking colonial economic control.

2. Poor Peasants

  • Wanted reduction in revenue demand.
  • Congress avoided “No Rent” campaigns → relations uncertain.

3. Rich Peasants

  • Patidars of Gujarat & Jats of UP → hit by trade crisis & falling prices → supported CDM against high revenues.

4. Industrial Workers

  • Limited participation except Nagpur region.
  • Strikes: Railway workers (1930), Dock workers (1932).
  • Many stayed aloof as industrialists were close to Congress.

5. Women

  • Large-scale participation:
    • Protest marches.
    • Made salt.
    • Picketed cloth & liquor shops.
    • Many jailed.
  • Urban women: Mostly high-caste.
  • Rural women: Mostly from rich peasant families.

📅 Key Arrests & Events

  • April 1930 – Abdul Ghaffar Khan arrested.
  • May 1930 – Gandhi arrested.
  • Dec 1931 – Gandhi went to London for Second Round Table Conference (futile outcome).
  • 5 March 1931 – Gandhi–Irwin Pact:
    • Govt released prisoners.
    • Gandhi agreed to suspend CDM & attend RTC.

🚫 Limitations of CDM

  • Peasant demands unfulfilled.
  • Many peasants & business groups didn’t rejoin in second phase.
  • Industrial workers’ participation low.
  • Militant activities rose.
  • Dalits stayed away (Congress seen siding with upper castes).
  • Many Muslims kept away fearing Hindu dominance.

🔄 Comparison: NCM vs CDM

Non-Cooperation Movement (NCM)Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)
Launched 5 Sept 1920 → ended 5 Feb 1922 (Chauri Chaura).Began 12 March 1930 (Salt March).
Aim: Stop functioning of govt by refusing cooperation.Aim: Paralyse administration by breaking specific laws.
Limited geographical spread.Wider spread, but less Muslim participation (due to Hindu–Muslim divide).
Withdrawn due to Chauri Chaura violence.Withdrawn after Gandhi–Irwin Pact (1931).

📝 Role of Bhagat Singh in Freedom Struggle

  • Founded HSRA (Hindustan Socialist Republican Association) with aim to overthrow British via revolution.
  • Involved in Lahore Conspiracy Case (1928) – killed British officer J. P. Saunders to avenge Lala Lajpat Rai’s death.
  • 8 April 1929 – With Batukeshwar Dutt, threw non-lethal bombs in Central Legislative Assembly (“Inquilab Zindabad” slogan).
  • Used trial as a platform to spread revolutionary ideas.
  • Executed on 23 March 1931 (with Rajguru & Sukhdev) → became martyr and youth icon.