"On bended knees I asked for bread and I have received stone instead"

In 1930, Gandhi launched yet another of his disobedience campaign. Gandhiji wrote to the Viceroy demanding abolition of salt-tax and the Government monopoly of the manufacture of salt. When the Viceroy refused to do so, Gandhiji decided to start the Satyagraha movement by breaking the salt act.

"On bended knees I asked for bread and I have received stone instead", Gandhi remarked, and making good his promise, he set out on March 12 with seventy-eight of his followers and disciples from Sabarmati Ashram on the 241-mile march to Dandi on the sea. All along the way, he addressed large crowds, and with each passing day an increasing number of people joined Gandhi on the march. It is said that the roads were watered, and fresh flowers and green leaves strewn on the path; and as the satyagrahis walked, they did so to the tune of one of Gandhi's favorite bhajans, Raghupati Raghava Raja Ram, sung by the great Hindustani vocalist, Pandit Paluskar. On April 5, Gandhi arrived at Dandi: short prayers were offered, Gandhi addressed the crowd, and at 8:30 AM he picked up a small lump of natural salt. Gandhi had now broken the law; Sarojini Naidu, his close friend and associate, shouted: "Hail, Deliverer!" No sooner had Gandhi violated the law than everywhere others followed suit: within one week the jails were full, and subsequently Gandhi himself was to be taken into jail.

The salt satyagraha was symbolic. Its real significance was to break all tyrannical and unjust laws of the Government. The Dandi march started the Civil Disobedience Movement in all parts of country.