The Dandi Cycle Yatra, organised by Gujarat Vidyapeeth, left for Dandi from Kocharab Ashram in Ahmedabad, Saturday morning. It was flagged off by Union Home Minister Amit Shah to mark the 92nd anniversary of the Dandi March led by Mahatma Gandhi, as part of the leader’s multi-pronged non-violent movement against the British Raj.
The Dandi March or Salt Satyagrah was organised by Bapu, from the Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to Dandi village in the coastal area between March 12 to April 5, 1930. Also known as the Salt Satyagraha and the Dandi Satyagraha, it was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led to protest British salt monopoly. Gandhi started this march with 78 of his trusted volunteers. The march spanned 239 miles (385 km), from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, which was called Navsari at that time.
Growing numbers of Indians joined them along the way. When Gandhi broke the British Raj salt laws at 8:30 am on 6 April 1930, it sparked large scale acts of civil disobedience against the salt laws.
The salt tax represented 8.2 percent of the British Raj tax revenue, and hurt the poorest Indians the most significantly. After making the salt by evaporation at Dandi, Gandhi continued southward along the coast, making salt and addressing meetings on the way.
