In the salt of the earth

A visit to the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial in Dandi leaves J V Kamesh with a feeling of gratitude for the countless martyrs who fought for a just cause

Gandhiji symbolically picking up the salt

There was a huge colourful crowd comprising of a number of animated school students being herded by the teachers. I was at the National Salt Satyagraha Memorial at Dandi on a warm February afternoon and was about to step into a memorial which symbolised an event that sounded the clarion call for India’s freedom movement. This Salt Satyagraha Memorial, another befitting monument denoting the supreme sacrifice of countless martyrs for a just cause, was dedicated to the nation, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on January 30, 2019.

The Salt Act, enacted by the British in 1882, gave them a monopoly on the collection, manufacture and distribution of salt. Violation of the Salt Act was a criminal offence. Even though salt was freely available to those living on the coast (by desalination), Indians were forced to buy it from the colonial government. The salt tax represented 8.2% of the British Raj tax revenue, and hurt the poorest Indians the most significantly.

As part of ‘Purna Swaraj’, Gandhiji was planning to launch a non-violent Civil Disobedience Movement. He decided to begin this movement with a satyagraha aimed at the British Salt Tax. On March 12, after the early morning prayers, he set out on his Dharmayatra accompanied by 80 hand-picked followers, all of whom had been trained to be non-violent Satyagrahis and had been exposed to ashram life. Gandhiji was 61 years old and the age of the Satyagrahis ranged from 18 to 45 years hailing from 15 different regions of undivided India. There was also one marcher each from Fiji and Nepal. The entire march lasted 24 days covering a distance of 241 miles.

The story of this entire march, along with the important events that took place during that period, is depicted in the Memorial through a series of 24 narrative murals which are exquisitely formed. They form the highlight of the memorial and ‘walk’ the visitor through the various villages which the marchers traversed, the rivers they crossed, creeks they encountered, their daily routine, the terrain they walked through and their interaction with the local inhabitants and political leaders of various hues.

The next scene in this vast rectangular-shaped memorial is the lifelike statue of the marchers, with just a bag slung on their shoulder probably housing the bare necessities, striding away into glory. The third side of the rectangle has the museum which gives details of the persons responsible for this memorial, the genesis of the march and the outcome. The salt laws were not repealed and freedom came after 17 long and tortuous years but the world came to appreciate the moral legitimacy of India’s cause. There are a number of artefacts belonging to that period including the fountain pen designed by Kosuri Venkatrathnam of Rajahmundry and presented to the Mahatma.

Finally, outside the rectangle is the Saifee Villa Gandhi Memorial Museum, wherein Gandhiji stayed overnight on April 5, 1930 prior to the historic event of breaking the Salt Law.

This building houses a number of valuable relics and photographs associated with the march and the freedom movement.

With mixed feelings, I took leave promising to return to imbibe the Mahatma’s teachings into my own lifestyle.