“Mahatma Gandhi used ‘Salt’ as a powerful symbol to unite the nation.” Justify the statement.

Mahatma Gandhi used ‘Salt as a powerful symbol to unite the nation’. This statement can be justified below:

● On January 31, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi sent a letter to Viceroy Irwin stating 11 demands.

● Some of these were of general interest and others were specific demands of different classes ranging from industrialists to peasants.

● The idea was to make the demands wide-ranging so that all the classes within the Indian society could come under a unified campaign.

● The most steering demand was to abolish the salt tax.

● Salt was an essential item of food and was consumed by both the rich and the poor.

● The government had a monopoly over its production and had levied a tax on it.

● His letter was an ultimatum that stated that if the demands were not fulfilled by 11 March, Congress would launch a full civil disobedience campaign.

● Since his demand was not fulfilled by Irwin, Mahatma Gandhi started his famous salt march with 78 volunteers.

● The march was over 240 miles from Gandhiji's ashram in Sabarmati to the Gujarati coastal town of Dandi.

● On 6 April he reached Dandi and violated the law by manufacturing salt from boiling water.