Fight For Independence

Civil Disobedience Movement
To pressure the British government, Gandhiji launched the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930. People were appealed not to obey the British orders. They also asked people to not follow the British laws and rules, boycott foreign goods and avoid paying taxes. The movement spread far and wide. Students and teachers boycotted schools; advocates boycotted courts; and government employees did not attend the British offices. The whole country was awakened with a flood of processions and demonstrations.

Dandi March:
The Civil Disobedience Movement started with the Dandi March under the leadership of Gandhiji. He decided to march to Dandi to violate the Salt Law. When on 12 March, 1930, Gandhiji left his Ashram in Ahmedabad to Dandi, he had with him only 78 followers. As he walked on a 358-kilometre-long march on foot, more and more people joined him in the march. By the time he reached Dandi, there were thousands of people with him. There he picked up a handful of salt to break the Salt Law.

With this, people all over the country refused to pay taxes and obey the law. They courted arrest peacefully. Over 90,000 people were put in jails. When one leader was arrested, another came to take his place. Many leaders came forward. Different leaders led the movement at different places, like Sarojini Naidu in Gujarat, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan in the North-West Frontier Province and Rani Gidinlieu in Nagaland.

The British came down heavily on the agitators. They resorted to lathi-charges, firings, brutal killings and imprisonments, but the movement grew from strength to strength. The Congress was banned. The Martial Law was imposed in Sholapur. But the movement continued unabated.

Seeing the popularity of the movement, the Swadeshi Movement was also launched; in this people were encouraged to produce and use Swadeshi goods and boycott the foreign goods. Gandhiji spun cotton and encouraged people to use handlooms or khadi made with a spinning wheel or charkha. People followed his example. This idea struck the British business interests very hard.