Editing Salt March (section)

== Civil disobedience movement ==
[[File:Mahatma & Sarojini Naidu 1930.JPG|thumb|right|[[Mahatma Gandhi]], [[Mithuben Petit]], and [[Sarojini Naidu]] during the March]] 
At midnight on 31 December 1929, the INC (Indian National Congress) raised the triple color [[flag of India]] on the banks of the [[Ravi River|Ravi]] at [[Lahore]]. The Indian National Congress, led by Gandhi and [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], publicly issued the Declaration of Sovereignty and Self-rule, or [[Purna Swaraj]], on 26 January 1930.<ref name=Wolpert2001>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/gandhispassionli00wolp/page/141|title=Gandhi's passion : the life and legacy of Mahatma Gandhi|last=Wolpert|first=Stanley A.|date=2001|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=019513060X|pages=[https://archive.org/details/gandhispassionli00wolp/page/141 141]|oclc=252581969|url-access=registration}}</ref> (Meaning ''purna'', "complete", ''swa'', "self", ''raj'', "rule", so therefore "complete self-rule") The declaration included the readiness to withhold taxes, and the statement:

<blockquote>We believe that it is the inalienable right of the Indian people, as of any other people, to have freedom and to enjoy the fruits of their toil and have the necessities of life, so that they may have full opportunities for growth. We believe also that if any government deprives a people of these rights and oppresses them the people have a further right to alter it or abolish it. The British government in India has not only deprived the Indian people of their freedom but has based itself on the exploitation of the masses, and has ruined India economically, politically, culturally, and spiritually. We believe, therefore, that India must sever the British connection and attain ''Purna Swaraj'' or complete sovereignty and self-rule.<ref name=Wolpert1999/></blockquote>

The [[Congress Working Committee]] gave Gandhi the responsibility for organising the first act of [[civil disobedience]], with Congress itself ready to take charge after Gandhi's expected arrest.<ref name="A & DuVall, p. 83">[[#Ackerman|Ackerman]], p. 83.</ref> Gandhi's plan was to begin civil disobedience with a satyagraha aimed at the [[History of the salt tax in British India|British salt tax]]. The 1882 Salt Act gave the British a monopoly on the collection and manufacture of salt, limiting its handling to government salt depots and levying a salt tax.<ref>[[#Dalton|Dalton]], p. 91.</ref> Violation of the Salt Act was a criminal offence. Even though salt was freely available to those living on the coast (by evaporation of sea water), Indians were forced to buy it from the colonial government.