Civil Disobedience Movement (CDM)

Civil Disobedience Movement was launched by Gandhi in March 1930 by breaking the Salt Law by initiating the Dandi March from Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati Ashram with 78 other Ashram members to Dandi, a village on India’s western seacoast in Gujarat.

Salt law should be violated everywhere.
Students should leave colleges and government servants should resign from services.
Foreign clothes should be burnt.
No taxes should be paid to the government.
Women should stage a Dharna at liquor shops, etc.

As salt was an essential part of our food, Mahatma Gandhi and other nationalists tried to reason that it was sinful to impose tax on salt.
Imposing tax on it was considered a sin.
It also helped to gain popular support.

Tamil Nadu
- In April 1930, C. Rajagopalachari organised a march from Tiruchirapalli to Vedaranniyam on the Tanjore coast to break the salt law.
Malabar
- K. Kelappan organised a salt march from Kozhikode to the beaches of Payyannur on 13 April 1930.
Andhra Region
- District salt marches were organised in east and west Godavari, Krishna and Guntur.
Bengal
- During this period, Surya Sen’s Chittagong revolt group carried out a raid on two armouries and declared the establishment of a provisional government
Bihar
- The region witnessed non-chaukidari tax agitations.
Peshawar – Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan
- He was an educational and social reform worker among the Pathans.
- He is also known as ‘Badshah Khan’ and ‘Frontier Gandhi’.
- He started the first Pushto political monthly ‘Pukhtoon’ and had also organised a volunteer brigade ‘Khudai Khidmatgars’, popularly known as the ‘Red-Shirts’.
Dharasana Satyagraha
- On May 21, 1930, Sarojini Naidu, Imam Sahib and Manilal (Gandhi’s son) took up the unfinished task of leading a raid on the Dharasana Salt Works.
Naga Revolt
- In Nagaland, Rani Gaidinliu revolted under the Heraka movement.

The movement saw widespread participation from various sections of the population, including women, students, and youth, who played a prominent role in picketing outside liquor shops, opium dens and shops selling foreign cloth.
Muslim participation was limited due to appeals from Muslim leaders and the government’s encouragement of communal division.
Merchants, petty traders, tribals, workers and peasants were also active participants in the movement.
The movement witnessed limited participation of the communists under CPI.

The government carried out mass arrest and used force for suppression of the movement.
The government imposed restrictions on public gatherings, processions, and even the possession of salt, which was a symbol of the movement.
The government cracked down on the press, imposing censorship and banning publications that supported the movement.
The government also attempted to negotiate with Indian leaders to end the movement which resulted in the Gandhi – Irwin Pact.