Page 77 - GANDHI A Biography for Children and Beginners

GANDHI – A Biography for children and beginners

resulted from British rule could end, and a new India be built only on the basis

of complete Independence. The annual session of the Indian National Congress

at Lahore therefore turned out to be the beginning of a new chapter. In a
historic resolution, the Congress adopted the goal of complete Independence,

and adopted a pledge to launch a struggle for complete Independence. It

authorized Gandhi to lead the struggle, and prepare for a countrywide

Satyagraha. Gandhi accepted the responsibility. He realized that the struggle
for complete Independence had to be different from the earlier struggles that

he had led. They had been struggles to achieve limited and local objectives. An

objective that encompassed the whole nation could not be achieved without
full and enthusiastic co-operation from the masses. He had, therefore, to find

an issue that would enthuse the masses and make them understand the relation

between Independence and their daily lives. They should know what was at

stake, and why they should pay the price for the freedom that they needed and
demanded.

Gandhi could not easily think of a form of struggle and an issue that could

attract the widest and most enthusiastic participation of the people. After days
of thought he lighted on the issue — salt.

There was a tax on manufacture, on stocking, on transporting, and on selling
salt. The purpose was to make salt manufactured in India many times more -

expensive than the salt that was imported from the United Kingdom. It was

similar to the case of the textiles. Destroy Indian industry to benefit British

industry. Render Indians unemployed to keep British labour employed.
Everyone, — even children and animals needed salt. It was part of the poorest

man's diet. So the fight against the Salt Laws could show the common man the

cause and price of slavery. It could also give him an opportunity to participate

in the fight.

Gandhi announced his plans. He wrote to the Viceroy on the 3rd of March to

give him notice of what he proposed to do. It was a classic example of how
Gandhi always ensured that his case was just and unanswerable. He asked the

Viceroy to look at the poverty of India and the cause of the poverty. He pointed

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