Wishesh June 2015 Online E-Magazine

On 12 March 1930 at 6-10 A.M. Gandhi came out
of his room, calm and composed, accompanied by
Prabhashankar Patani, Mahadev Desai and Pyarelal,
his secretary. He offered prayers, looked at his watch
and exactly at 6.30 A.M. commenced his march with
seventy-eight volunteers1 With his usual gentle
smile, betokening his unifying faith in the justice of
the cause he was pursuing and in the success of the
great campaign he had embarked upon, he headed the
procession with quick and unfaltering steps.
‘Like the historic march of Ram Chandra to Lanka,
the march of Dandi would be memorable’ exclaimed
Motilal Nehru in a message. P.C. Ray called it the
‘exodus of Israelites under Moses.’2 Jawaharlal
Nehru called Gandhi, ‘.... the pilgrim on his quest of
truth, quiet, peaceful, determined and fearless who
would continue that quiet pilgrimage regardless
of consequences.’3 The satyagrahis were to face a
fatiguing journey through heat and dust of the Kheda
villages. Thousands of men, women and children
accompanied the marching column for a few miles
and thousands lined the route and showered flowers,
coins, currency notes and kum kum at the satyagrahis4
Following the commencement of his epic Dandi
March, a tremendous wave of enthusiasm swept over
the entire country. The historic day was celebrated
all over India. Calcutta woke that morning amidst
sounds of conch shells and shouts of ‘Gandhiji ki Jai’.
At a conference of the Congress leaders of Bengal a
decision was taken to appoint immediately an ad hoc
council to be called the Bengal Civil Disobedience
Council, with the object of carrying out the programme
outlined by Gandhiji. J.M. Sen Gupta appealed to all
men and women of the province to enroll themselves
as volunteers for the Civil Disobedience Movement.
He said, ‘Bengal is on trial. She had always been in
the vanguard of the country’s battle for freedom and
cannot lag behind. Let us plunge head-long in the fight
and regain the rights which are ours.’5
In Bombay, a public meeting was held under the
presidentship of K.F. Nariman. He exhorted the
audience to get ready for the fight. The ‘War Council’
of the Bombay Provincial Congress Committee
announced a list of ‘iron-sides’ to join the first
detachment of volunteers from the town6
In Madras, at a public meeting at Tilak Ghat, prayers
were offered for the success of Civil Disobedience
campaign by the Madras District Congress Committee,
Andhra Congress Committee, the Triplicate Congress
Sabha and the political section of the Youth League.
The meeting reiterated India’s resolve to achieve
Swaraj by nonviolent means under Gandhi’s leadership
by following his path.’7
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