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| Ankola Salt march, KA kwtankola.com |
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| Historic Ankola Salt march, KA . newindianexpress.com |
A historic moment in India’s freedom struggle had taken place on April 13, 1930 in the quiet coastal town of Ankola in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka in which lots of patriots and protesters, courageously participated to register discontent over British monopoly on salt.
Led by Congress leader M.P. Nadkarni, the protesters marched to the seashore near Pujegere, 1.5 km from Ankola, and collected seawater and salty sand. The inspiration came from Gandhiji's' salt march/ Salt Yatra, a 387 km walk from Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad to the coastal Dandi in Gujarat. On April 6, at Dandi beach, Gandhi broke the salt law by boiling salt water.
The protesters to Ankola, on their return to the village, set up a traditional three-stone stove, and began boiling the water to produce rock salt. After producing salt, they didn't keep quite, they put up the first bag of homemade salt for auction. A local resident Honnappa Devi Naik purchased it for Rs 30. It was a symbolic beginning of the Salt Satyagraha in Karnataka.
The idea of launching the Satyagraha from Ankola was not a spontaneous one. It was not launched in a hurry. Before the planned salt Satyagraha, the Congress leader Hanumantha Rao Koujalgi in 1929 had carefully surveyed potential sites and finally chose Ankola as an ideal site, because of its proximity to the coast, apart the villagerss high spirited commitment Though most leaders from Ankola were from the Nadavar community with modest means and little forma l education, they displayed remarkable resolve. The date chosen was April 13 as it commemorated the anniversary of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre that took place in 1919 in Amritsar in the Punjab province. The mass killing was executed by a ruthless British Brig. General Reginald Dyer in collusion with the Governor of Punjab Michael O' Dwyer, ICS. Historians view them as prominent figures of ''Imperial Terrorism''.
In consideration of Gandhiji's salt march to Dandi and as a mark of solidarity with the national leaders across India, many frontline figures across Karnataka supported the movement. These included Dr. Hardekar, K.A Venkataramaiah, M..C Mathanda, Tekur Subramanya, Gudgeppa Halikeri, and K.T Bashyam.
Despite police crackdowns-like the sealing of Ramakrishna Bhat’s house where leaders had gathered, and arrests on April 11- the movement pressed on. Local resident Shyam Rao Shenvi offered an alternative venue under a wedding pandal, ensuring the protest could proceed.
The Sathyagraha continued for 45 days. Salt Sathyagraha was held in nearly 30 centers like Mangalore, Kundapur, Udupi, Puttur, Padubidre, etc., in Karnataka. Students daringly came out in large numbers to prepare salt and sell it from house to house.
The British authorities were rattled by the mobilization. A customs officer named Steel reportedly told police officer Collins that no government could survive such civil resistance. The movement soon expanded to include the Jungle Satyagraha, where locals entered reserved forests at Baleguli in defiance of British laws restricting access to firewood. The Ankola Salt Satyagraha thus ignited a wave of defiance across Karnataka, becoming a cornerstone of the southern freedom movement.
On the same day - April 13, 1930, in the Madras Presidency 98 Satyagrahis under the Congress leader Rajaji (C. Rajagopalachari) started their journey from Trichy Cantonment to coastal Vedarayyam facing the Bay of Bengal (now in Nagapatinam District,TN) . They were arrested by the police after picking up salt.
https://indianculture.gov.in/digital-district-repository/district-repository/salt-satyagraha-ankola
https://sanchika.ciil.org/items/4ec0566c-9286-4a85-92db-b78079396534/full
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankola
