A Pinch of Salt Rocks An Empire

Chapter - 9

On May 4, 1930, Gandhiji wrote a second letter to the Viceroy. He was at the small village of Karadi, seven kilometers from Dandi. He again addressed the Viceroy as "Dear Friend" and wrote that it was his intention to reach Dharasana with his companions and ask for possession of the Government Salt Works there. Gandhiji wrote that the government could prevent the raid, "as it was playfully and mischievously called," by abolishing the salt tax, by arresting him and his party, or by brutally attacking the satyagrahis.
Gandhiji gave the brutal repression of satyagrahis as his reason for raiding the Dharasana Salt Works.
He wrote: "I had hoped that the government would fight the civil resisters in a civilized manner... While the known leaders have been dealt with more or less according to the legal formality, the rank and file have been often savagely...assaulted.
"Had these been isolated cases, they might have been overlooked. But accounts have come to me from Bengal, Bihar, Utkal, U.P., Delhi and Bombay confirming the experiences of Gujarat of which I have ample evidence.
"In Karachi, Peshawar and Madras the firing would appear to have been unprovoked and unnecessary... In Bengal... unthinkable cruelties are said to have been practiced in the act of snatching the national flag from volunteers. Paddy fields are reported to have been burnt, eatables forcibly taken. A vegetable market in Gujarat has been raided because the dealers would not sell vegetables to officials.
"These acts have taken place in front of crowds who, for the sake of the Congress mandate, have submitted without retaliation.
"According to the law of Satyagraha, the greater the repression and lawlessness on the part of authority, the greater should be the suffering courted by its victims. Success is the certain result of suffering of the extreme character voluntarily undergone...I have been saying for the last fifteen years in India, and outside for twenty years more, and repeat now, that the only way to conquer violence is through non-violence."
Gandhiji begged the Viceroy, Lord Irwin, to abolish the salt tax, "which many of your illustrious countrymen have condemned in unmeasured terms and which....has evoked universal protest and resentment expressed in civil disobedience. You may condemn civil disobedience as much as you like. Will you prefer violent revolt to civil disobedience?"
It was evening and, after writing the letter and finishing his routine work, Gandhiji dropped off to sleep on a cot in a shed beneath the branches of an old mango tree. Some of his followers slept by his side, while others slept elsewhere in the grove.
At dead of night, at 12.45 a.m. they were awakened by the tramp of heavy boots. It was the District Magistrate of Surat, an Englishman, accompanied by two Indian officers and thirty policemen armed with rifles, pistols and lances. A party of armed constables entered the shed and the District Magistrate flashed his torch on Mahatma Gandhi's face. He woke up and asked the Magistrate, "Do you want me?"
"Are you Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi?" the District Magistrate asked formally.
"Yes", Gandhiji answered with equal formality.
When the District Magistrate said that he had come to arrest him, Gandhiji said, "Please give me time for my ablutions."
The official agreed and, while brushing his teeth, Gandhiji asked, "Mr. District Magistrate, may I know under what charge I am arrested? Is it section 124?"
"No, not under Section 124. I have a written order", was the curt reply.
"Please", said Gandhiji, "would you mind reading it to me?"
The District Magistrate read, "Whereas the Governor-in-Council views with alarm the activities of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, he directs that the said Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi should be placed under restraint under Regulation XXV of 1827 and suffer imprisonment during the pleasure of the Government, and that he be immediately removed to the Yeravda Central Jail."
Gandhiji packed some articles and papers in a small bag and asked for "a few more minutes for prayers."
The District Magistrate agreed and one of the men recited a hymn. Then Gandhiji stepped to the side of the District Magistrate, who led him to a waiting vehicle.
Gandhiji was put on a train to Bombay. The authorities had decided that at Borivili he was to change to a car and travel by it to the Yeravda Central Jail in Pune.
Foreign newspaper correspondents had got wind of what was happening and they were waiting when the train stopped at Borivli. An American correspondent asked, "Have you any farewell message, Mr. Gandhi?"
"Tell the people of America to study the issues clearly and to judge them on their merits," Gandhiji replied.
"You have no bitterness or ill feeling towards anyone?" the correspondent asked.
"No. I have long expected to be arrested," Gandhiji replied.
"Do you think your arrest will lead to great disturbances throughout India?"
"No, I do not. In any case, I can say that I have taken every precaution to avoid disturbances," Gandhiji replied.
Gandhiji was taken in a car, with curtains drawn, to the Yeravda Central Jail. The prison authorities noted down these details about their prisoner: 5 feet 5 inches (about 166 centimeters); identification marks: scar on the right thigh, small mole on the lower right eyelid and a scar about the size of a pea below the left elbow.
There was no trial, no sentence and no fixed term of imprisonment. Gandhiji was to be held in prison for as long as the government thought it necessary.
When the news of Gandhiji's arrest spread, there were demonstrations everywhere, but the people were non-violent.
Hartals were declared in Bombay, Delhi, Navsari, Ahmedabad and Surat. The next day more areas were on hartal.
There were reactions abroad, too. Indian businessmen in Panama closed their business for 24 hours. Indians in Sumatra did the same. In Nairobi, the Indian community went on hartal. From America, 102 clergymen sent a telegram to the British Prime Minister urging him to seek a friendly settlement with Gandhiji and the Indian people. Reports of Gandhiji and his doings filled newspapers all over Europe.
Seeing the support that Gandhiji had, the Government feared that there might be demonstrations at the Yeravda Central Jail and secretly took him from there to Shivaji's fortress in the Purandar Hills.
Gandhiji had expected to be arrested, and as far back as April 9 he had drafted a message to the Indian people which was released upon his arrest:
"If the struggle so auspiciously begun is continued in the same spirit of non-violence to the end, not only shall we see Purna Swaraj established in our country before long, but we shall have given to the world an object lesson worthy of India and her glorious past.
"Swaraj won without sacrifice cannot last long.... Let not my companions or the people at large be perturbed over my arrest, for it is not I but God who is guiding this movement.....
"Let every villager fetch or manufacture contraband salt, sisters should picket liquor shops, opium dens and foreign cloth dealers' shops. Young and old in every home should spin and get woven heaps of yarn every day. Foreign cloth should be burnt.
"Hindus should give up untouchability. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsees and Christians should all achieve unity of heart..... Let students leave government schools and colleges and government servants resign their services and devote themselves to the service of the people and we shall find that Purna Swaraj will come knocking at our door."