Target Exam

CUET

Subject

History

Chapter

Modern India: Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist movement

Question:

Mahatma Gandhi's Salt March was notable as the first nationlist activity focused on __________.

Options:

Women

Lord Irwin

Subhas Chandra Bose

15 March, 1930

Correct Answer:

Women

Explanation:

The correct answer is Option (1) - Women

Mahatma Gandhi's Salt March was notable as the first nationlist activity focused on Women.

The Salt March was notable for at least three reasons. First, it was this event that first brought Mahatma Gandhi to world attention. The march was widely covered by the European and American press. Second, it was the first nationalist activity in which women participated in large numbers. The socialist activist Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay had persuaded Gandhiji not to restrict the protests to men alone. Kamaladevi was herself one of numerous women who courted arrest by breaking the salt or liquor laws. Third, and perhaps most significant, it was the Salt March which forced upon the British the realisation that their Raj would not last forever, and that they would have to devolve some power to the Indians.

More about the Salt March:

Gandhiji had given advance notice of his “Salt March” to the Viceroy Lord Irwin, Irwin failed to grasp the significance of the action. On 12 March 1930, Gandhiji began walking from his ashram at Sabarmati towards the ocean. He reached his destination three weeks later, making a fistful of salt as he did and thereby making himself a criminal in the eyes of the law. Meanwhile, parallel salt marches were being conducted in other parts of the country. In the wake of the Salt March, nearly 60,000 Indians were arrested, among them, of course, Gandhiji himself.