At 6.30 yesterday morning ╥Mahatma╙ Gandhi left Ahmedabad on foot at the head of a band of civil resistance volunteers on a 100-mile march to the sea at Jalalpur, on the Gulf of Cambay. He thus signalled the beginning of civil disobedience or non-violent defiance of the British administration, and brought into action the new Congress policy of Purna Swaraj, or complete independence.
For a fortnight Gandhi╒s march is intended to be only a demonstration. Then, when he expects to be at the sea, he will begin to produce salt from brine, and so infringe the Government salt monopoly, defying the Government to arrest and punish him. At the same time his supporters everywhere have been incited by him to refuse to pay local taxes.
There were sympathetic demonstrations yesterday in various parts of India, but apparently little excitement, and no reported incident of serious disorder. Gandhi, of course, represents a section of India only. His campaign has found no support in the National Assembly, while the Moslems are definitely opposed to it.
