Today In History: March 12 1930

Gandhi Begins the Salt March A Campaign of Passive Resistance Against British Colonial Rule in India 

On this day in 1930 Mohandas K. Gandhi, the «Mahatma», launched a new campaign of civil disobedience against the British colonial authorities in India. The purpose of the campaign at this time was the salt tax, a profitable monopoly in the British colony which had been a subject of earlier protests. Gandhi’s pilgrimage for 24 days took place between Sabermati and the coastal Dandi. The action was an effusive popular response, in addition to being the subject of attention from the press worldwide. Although British authorities responded with a campaign of arrests, including that of Gandhi himself, the strength of the Indian independence movement was growing so they had to start raising the negotiation as a means to defuse the situation.