The
march undertaken by Gandhi and seventy-eight members of Congress was the most significant event in India's struggle for freedom. On that day, after breaking the infamous Salt Law, Gandhi gave the following speech...
"In
all probability this will be my last speech to you. Even if the
Government
allow
me to march tomorrow morning, this will be my last speech on
the sacred banks of the Sabarmati. Possibly these may be the last
words of my life here. I have already told you yesterday what
I had to say...But let there be not a semblance of breach
of peace even after all of us have been arrested. We have resolved
to utilize all
our resources
in the pursuit of an exclusively non-violent struggle. Let no
one commit a wrong in anger. This is my hope and prayer. I wish
these
words of mine reached every nook and corner of the land. My task
shall be done if I perish and so do my comrades. It will then
be for the Working Committee of the Congress to show you the
way and
it will be up to you to follow its lead. So long as I have reached
Jalalpur, let nothing be done in contravention to the authority
vested in me by the Congress. But once I am arrested, the whole
responsibility
shifts to the Congress. No one who believes in non-violence,
as a creed, need, therefore, sit still. My compact with the Congress
ends as soon as I am arrested. These laws can
be violated in three ways. It is an offence to manufacture salt
wherever
there are facilities for doing so. The possession and sale of
contraband
salt, which includes natural salt or salt earth, is also an offence.
The purchasers of such salt will be equally guilty. To carry
away the natural salt deposits on the seashore is likewise violation
of law. So is the hawking of such salt. In short, you may choose
any one or all of these devices to break the salt monopoly." |