Right here, Gandhi shook Raj with salt | India Information

Save for a signboard and plaques declaring its historic worth, you would simply move by this over-a-century-old beachfront bungalow and never give it a re-assessment. Saifee Villa, the two-storey, tile-roofed home shorn of architectural airs, with two massive, ethereal rooms and plenty of home windows on every ground, is visited by tons of each day. At present marks 63 years because it was declared a nationwide treasure.It was on April 6, 1961 that Syedna Taher Saifuddin, 51st Dai or head of the Dawoodi Bohra neighborhood and proprietor of Saifee Villa, handed over the bungalow to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru to “dedicate it to the nation”.
Situated within the coastal and sleepy village of Dandi, 23 km from Navsari in south Gujarat, the Villa hosted Mahatma Gandhi as he concluded his well-known Dandi March or Salt Satyagraha, from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad, on April 5, 1930. Subsequent morning, Gandhi picked up a fistful of salt a number of metres out of Saifee Villa, symbolically defying the draconian Salt Legislation of 1882 which prohibited Indians from making salt from seawater and imposed heavy taxes on a standard commodity. Gandhi’s symbolic act galvanised a nation, which rose in protest recorded in historical past as ‘Civil Disobedience Motion’.

Bapu’s First Problem To Brits
“Dandi March is important as a result of it was the primary time when Gandhiji brazenly challenged the British empire. The motion drew world consideration to our freedom motion although the act of defiantly choosing up a pinch of salt itself appeared easy,” stated Meghshyam Ajgaonkar, Gandhian and govt secretary at Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalaya the place Gandhi stayed between 1917 and 1934.
Activist and Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, who was concerned in organising Nationwide Satyagraha Memorial near Saifee Villa, stated the Mahatma knew he can be arrested and, subsequently, had requested Congress chief and fellow traveller Abbas Taiyabji to guide the motion after his arrest.

“Taiyabji led the motion after Bapu’s arrest at Karadi village. When there was criticism saying it (the march) was avoiding Muslim villages, Bapu modified the route and visited Muslim villages, sending out a robust message of communal concord and making it an inclusive motion,” Tushar Gandhi added.
“At Saifee Villa on April 5, 1930, Mahatma Gandhi stayed the evening previous to the historic occasion of breaking the ‘Salt Legislation’ on the morning of April 6, thereby launching the Civil Disobedience Motion that finally shattered the foundations of British Rule,” reads a stone plaque in pink on the Villa’s wall. The plaque provides that Syedna Taher Saifuddin requested Nehru to dedicate it to the nation “to be preserved as a nationwide heritage”. Since then, it has been referred to as Saifee Villa Gandhi Memorial Museum.

Raj Wasn’t Apprehensive, At First
Accompanied by 80 different marchers, Gandhi started the trek on March 12, 1930, coated 387km in 24 days, and reached Dandi on April 5. Hundreds joined in to oppose the oppressive tax on salt. Gandhi’s fellow freedom fighters, together with Nehru and Sardar Patel, have been initially skeptical concerning the plan. Even the British regime didn’t see the Salt Satyagraha as a risk. Whereas Gandhi had referred to as Dandi his ‘Haridwar’ and sought the world’s “sympathy within the battle of proper towards may”, then Viceroy Lord Irwin underplayed the motion in a missive to London: “At current, the prospect of a salt marketing campaign doesn’t hold me awake at evening.”
However as hundreds, together with stalwarts like Sarojini Naidu, joined in, singing Gandhi’s favorite bhajan, ‘Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram’, beating drums and cymbals as they crossed village after village and the world press took notice, the Satyagraha took on the form of a mass motion and gave the Raj sleepless nights. A lot in order that Gandhi and plenty of others have been arrested on the evening of Might 4-5, 1930.
Gandhi’s incarceration at Yerwa da Jail in Pune ended almost a 12 months later, adopted by the Gandhi-Irwin pact on March 5, 1931 which introduced the cessation of the salt tax and allowed Indians to make salt for home use.

Greater Memorial Subsequent Door Now
Overlooking the ocean, which has now receded by round half a kilometre, the Villa and its “dedication to the nation” by Nehru discovered point out in PM Narendra Modi’s deal with on the inauguration (Feb 10, 2013) of the brand new campus of Aljamea-tus-Saifiyah (The Saifi Academy) at Marol in Mumbai. The Academy promotes the training, traditions and literary tradition of the Dawoodi Bohra neighborhood.
Modi had additionally inaugurated ‘Nationwide Satyagraha Memorial’ on Jan 30, 2019, a couple of minutes’ stroll from Saifee Villa in the direction of the ocean. Conceived as “an experiential journey recreating the spirit and the vitality of the 1930 Dandi March,” the monument is unfold over 16 acres and, by means of murals, a museum and a documentary movie, guests are in a position to visualise and perceive the historical past of the long-lasting March and the strategies of Satyagraha. To mark the historic second, a machine additionally demonstrates the making of salt from seawater.
Extra To Dandi Than Gandhi
Again to Saifee Villa. Maybe no person in Dandi, a village of round 1,300 residents, lots of whom are NRIs whose stunning bungalows with gardens lie locked or are being sorted by caretakers, is aware of extra concerning the Villa and Dandi March than Kalubhai Okay Dangar. The 58-year-old is a social scientist who visited Dandi in 2011 as a member of World Financial institution’s venture on ‘Gandhian Values in Rural Growth and Atmosphere’. The venture was carried out by Gujarat Ecology Fee and Gujarat Vidyapeeth.
“Dandi was one of many six villages chosen to unfold consciousness about cleanliness and environmental safety. I cherished Dandi, however was saddened to see the environment of Saifee Villa, the close by Gandhi statue, the village seashore and its streets affected by rubbish,” recalled Dangar. Subsequent day, he picked up a brush to start cleansing up the Villa, Dandi’s seashores and streets. In an interview to TOI (December 2, 2014), Dangar had stated: “I began alone and took up cleansing of the seashore, public roads of Dandi and Saifee Villa. Seeing me, individuals joined in and now we’ve a seashore cleansing committee.”
Although the century-old, whitewashed Saifee Villa is structurally robust, on shut inspection one can see plaster peeling off at some locations. The primary ground the place Gandhi spent 10 nights is at the moment closed to guests. An attendant informed us it “is beneath upkeep”.
“Although the Villa is being managed by Gujarat Tourism, we’ve to take permission from Archeological Survey of India to do restore work on it. It takes time, however even the primary ground can be opened for guests as soon as it’s overhauled and its picket stairs, which have suffered put on and tear, are mounted,” stated Dangar.
For Dawoodi Bohras and others, the mausoleum referred to as Maisaheba in Dandi village is one other attraction. The tomb homes graves of Noor Bibisaheba and Fatema Bibisaheba, mom and sister, respectively, of Syedna Yusuf Najmuddin, the twenty fourth Dai or religious head of Dawoodi Bohras. Whereas getting back from Haj, they have been shipwrecked and washed ashore. Najmuddin was the primary from India to move the Dawoodi Bohra neighborhood and his successor Jalal bin Hasan transferred the headquarters of the neighborhood from Yemen to India in 974 AH. Evidently, there are extra causes than one to go to Dandi.