Our Bapu - Mahatma Gandhi

Our Bapu
should be one which meant particular hardship to the common people. And so,
after long and careful thinking he chose the Salt Law.
Salt Law Is Broken
For you know, Hari, salt is something which the rich and the poor both need;
and anyone can make salt from the seawater or from certain kinds of earth. But
the Government had framed laws by which they alone could manufacture salt,
and they had also fixed a fairly high rate of tax on its sale. Gandhiji felt that
this tax was most unfair, and as it tended to raise the price of salt, it hit the
poor people very hard. And so he decided to break the Salt Law. He announced
his plan of marching to Dandi, and of breaking the unjust Salt Law there by
manufacturing salt himself. Before starting on his famous march, he fasted and
prayed, and then, accompanied by seventy-nine chosen companions, he set out
on foot from the Sabarmati Ashram. Gandhiji led the procession, and his
companions followed him in rows of three. Each one of these satyagrahis 29
carried a small bundle thrown across the shoulder by a stick. All along the
route, men and women flocked to get a darshan 30 of Mahatmaji. The streets
were sprinkled with water, and flowers and coconuts were laid before him as a
mark of the people's faith and esteem. And Gandhiji would stop on the way and
make speeches or preach sermons to the people. And thus the march from
Ahmedabad to the port of Dandi in Gujarat a distance of two hundred miles,
which was begun on March 12, ended on April 5.
On the 6th of April at Dandi, Mahatmaji prepared the first illegal salt. This was
a signal to the whole country, which seemed suddenly to be stirred up into new
life. At very many places all over India, the Salt Law was peacefully and quietly
broken, and salt was manufactured in defiance of the Government. The
Government arrested the law-breakers and punished them at once and
severely.
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