todayinhistory:April 6th 1930: Salt March endsOn thisday in 1930, the Salt March protest in India en
todayinhistory:April 6th 1930: Salt March endsOn thisday in 1930, the Salt March protest in India ended at the coastal village of Dandi. The march was led by Indian activist MohandasGandhi, and saw thousands of protestors walk 240 miles from Ahmedabad tothe Arabian Sea coast. They were protesting the British monopoly on saltproduction and distribution that unfairly taxed Indian producers andconsumers. When Gandhi initially embarked upon his march on March 12thhe was accompanied by under one hundred followers. However, as the marchprogressed it galvanised the local populations and thousands joinedtheir 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 60,000protestors across India - included Gandhi himself - which only spurredothers to join the movement. On May 21st, the poet Sarojini Naidu led amarch on a salt works which was broken up by police who brutallyattacked the peaceful demonstrators. This violence was broadcast aroundthe world, and drew international attention to the mistreatment ofIndians under British colonial rule. The salt marches led to Gandhi beingincluded at a London conference on Indian policy, demonstrating that theBritish authorities realised they could not ignore the independencemovement. 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-awaitedindependence.“With this, I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.”- Gandhi seizing a handful of salt on April 6th, 1930 -- source link
Tumblr Blog : todayinhistory.tumblr.com