The Salt Satyagraha drew ninety thousand arrests as civil disobedience

Evidence

While the First Round Table Conference was in session in London, India was in turmoil. In January 1930, the Congress had declared its demand for Poorna Swaraj—complete independence. Gandhi showcased his genius as a political organiser and launched his most imaginative political action yet—the Salt Satyagraha. He called on Indians to march to the sea and break the British salt tax laws. Hundreds of thousands of Indians rallied to his call. Jails filled to overflowing. Ninety thousand people were arrested. Between salt and water, between the Touchables’ satyagraha and the Untouchables’ ‘duragraha’ lay a sharply divided universe—of politics, of philosophy and of morality. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 379

Categorization

• XREF: The salt/water versus duragraha contrast sets up the confrontation between Gandhi and Ambedkar’s moral-political worlds that this chapter is titled after.