E-Book - Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandhi – His Life & Timessalt after his speech. The police raided the Congress party headquarters inBombay where salt was being made m pans on the roof. A crowd of sixtythousand assembled. Hundreds were handcuffed or their arms fastened withropes and led off to jail. In Ahmedabad, ten thousand people obtained illegalsalt from Congress in the first week after the act at Dandi. They paid what theycould; if they had no money they got it free. The salt lifted by Gandhi from thebeach was sold to a Dr. Kanuga, the highest bidder, for 1600 rupees. JawaharlalNehru, the president of Congress, was arrested in Allahabad under the Salt Actsand sentenced to six months' imprisonment. The agitation and disobediencespread to the turbulent regions of Maharashtra and Bengal. In Calcutta, theMayor, J. M. Sengupta, read seditious literature aloud at a public meeting andurged non-wearing of foreign textiles.He was put in prison for six months. Picketing of liquor shops and foreign clothshops commenced throughout India. Girls and ladies from aristocratic familiesand from families where purdah had been observed came out into the streets todemonstrate. Police became vindictive and kicked resisters in sensitive parts.Civil resistance began in the province of Bihar. Seventeen Bihar Satyagrahis,including resigned members of Legislative Councils, were sentenced to periodsof from six months to two years in prison. A Swami who had lived in SouthAfrica received two and a half years. Teachers, professors and students madesalt at the sea and inland, and were marched to jails in batches. KishorlalMashruwala, a faithful disciple of Gandhi, and Jamnalal Bajaj, a rich friend ofGandhi's were sentenced to two years' imprisonment. In Karachi, the policefired on a demonstration; two young Volunteers were killed. 'Bihar has beendenuded of almost all its leaders,' Mahadev Desai wrote, 'but the result hasbeen the opening of many more salt centres.' Congress distributed literatureexplaining simple methods of producing salt. B. G. Kher and K- M. Munshi,leaders of the national Congress, were arrested m Bombay. Devadas Gandhi wassentenced to three months' imprisonment in Delhi. The salt movement and thearrests and imprisonments spread to Madras, the Punjab and the Carnatic(Karnatak). Many towns observed hartals when Congress leaders were arrested.www.mkgandhi.org Page 305