Read the passage and answer the questions:

"Tomorrow we shall break the salt tax law"

On 5 April 1930, Mahatma Gandhi spoke at Dandi: When I left Sabarmati with my companions for this seaside hamlet of Dandi, I was not certain in my mind that we would be allowed to reach this place. Even while I was at Sabarmati there was a rumour that I might be arrested. I had thought that the Government might perhaps let my party come as far as Dandi, but not me certainly. If someone says that this betrays imperfect faith on my part, I shall not deny the charge. That I have reached here is in no small measure due to the power of peace and non-violence: that power is universally felt. The Government may, if it wishes, congratulate itself on acting as it has done, for it could have arrested every one of us. In saying that it did not have the courage to arrest this army of peace, we praise it. It felt ashamed to arrest such an army. He is a civilised man who feels ashamed to do anything which his neighbours would disapprove of. The Government deserves to be congratulated on not arresting us, even if it desisted only from fear of world opinion.

Tomorrow we shall break the salt tax law. Whether the Government will tolerate that is a different question. It may not tolerate it, but it deserves congratulations on the patience and forbearance it has displayed in regard to this party.

What if I and all the eminent leaders in Gujarat and in the rest of the country are arrested? This movement is based on the faith that when a whole nation is roused and on the march no leader is necessary.

[CWMG, VOL. 49]

Mahatma Gandhi illustrated his tactical wisdom by picking on salt monopoly. Which of the following statements are correct to prove this?

A. State monopoly over salt was deeply unpopular.
B. People were forbidden from making salt for even domestic use.
C. Salt was not an essential item.
D. Government destroyed the salt that it could not sell profitably.

Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
1. A, C, D only
2. B, C, D only
3. A, B, C only
4. A, B, D only

4

The correct answer is Option 4 - 4 ( A, B, D only)

Given statements:

A. State monopoly over salt was deeply unpopular. (CORRECT)
B. People were forbidden from making salt for even domestic use. (CORRECT)
C. Salt was not an essential item. (INCORRECT)
D. Government destroyed the salt that it could not sell profitably. (CORRECT)

Correction: Statement C is incorrect as Salt was an essential item.

Mahatma Gandhi announced that he would lead a march to break one of the most widely disliked laws in British India, which gave the state a monopoly in the manufacture and sale of salt. His picking on the salt monopoly was another illustration of Gandhiji’s tactical wisdom. For in every Indian household, salt was indispensable; yet people were forbidden from making salt even for domestic use, compelling them to buy it from shops at a high price. The state monopoly over salt was deeply unpopular; by making it his target, Gandhiji hoped to mobilise a wider discontent against British rule.

The salt tax was wickedly designed. In order to prevent the use of salt that has not paid the tax which is at times even fourteen times its value, the Government destroys the salt it cannot sell profitably. Thus it taxes the nation’s vital necessity; it prevents the public from manufacturing it and destroys what nature manufactures without effort.