द इण्डियन स्ट्रगल / भारतीय स्वाधीनता संग्राम (नेताजी सुभाष चन्द्र बोस - ऐतिहासिक विश्लेषण)

208 THE INDIAN STRUGGLE
Status mentioned in your announcement had been used in
its accepted sense. For has it not been admitted by responsible
British statesmen that Dominion Status is virtual indepen-
dence?''
To this letter—or ultimatum—of Mahatma Gandhi, the
Viceroy sent a brief reply regretting that Mr. Gandhi intended
to contravene the law. So, true to his announced programme,
the Mahatma commenced his three weeks' march to Dandi,
the sea-coast village, where the disobedience of the Salt Law
was to begin. At that time the Government were sceptical
about the effect that the march would produce and they were
not inclined to take him seriously. The Anglo-Indian papers
began to write taunting articles and the Statesman of Calcutta
in a leading article wrote to the effect that the Mahatma
could go on boiling sea-water till Dominion Status was
attained. This scepticism was also shared by a section of
Congressmen. Nevertheless, the march to Dandi was an
event of historical importance which will rank on the same
level with Napoleon's march to Paris on his return from
Elba or Mussolini's march to Rome when he wanted to seize
political power. Fortunately for the Mahatma, he had a
wonderfully good Press within India and outside. In India,
for days and days every detail connected with the march
found the widest publicity. The march on foot enabled him
to rouse the entire countryside through which he passed and
it also gave him time to work up the feelings of the country
as a whole. If, on the other hand, he had taken the train to
Dandi from Ahmedabad, arriving there the next day, he
would neither have been able to rouse the people of Gujerat,
nor would he have had enough time to work up the entire
nation. While the Mahatma was marching from village to
village, an intense propaganda was carried on in the neigh-
bourhood asking the people to give up service under the
Crown and to prepare for the non-payment of taxes, which
would be started before long. At every step the Mahatma
received an unexpectedly warm welcome and that made the
Government realise that the coming campaign would be a'
much more serious affair than they had thought at first.
On April 6th, after a purificatory bath in the sea, the