Mahatma Gandhi reached Dandi and broke the British salt law on 6 April 1930.
He had set out from the Sabarmati Ashram on 12 March with 78 selected volunteers. The march covered roughly 240 miles (390 kilometres) through Gujarat and attracted widespread public attention. At the coastal village of Dandi, Gandhi picked up naturally formed salt, directly challenging the British monopoly and tax on salt.
The act was deliberately simple: salt was an everyday necessity, so the campaign connected the independence movement with ordinary households. Gandhi’s action encouraged people across India to make, collect, or sell salt illegally and to join wider acts of civil disobedience.
The Salt March is often confused with the entire Civil Disobedience Movement. The march was its famous opening episode, while the broader campaign continued after Gandhi’s arrest in May 1930 and involved boycotts, protests, and refusal to obey selected colonial laws.