Vedaranyam March
It began at Trichinopoly (now Tiruchirappalli) on 13 April 1930 and proceeded for about 150 mi (240 km) towards the east before culminating at Vedaranyam, a small coastal town in the then Tanjore District.
As a part of the march, Rajagopalachari created awareness among the people by highlighting the importance of Khadi as well as social issues like caste discrimination.
In response to a nationwide protest of the British salt tax, Mahatma Gandhi decided to initiate a march to Dandi—then a small village in the Bombay Presidency—on the western coast of India.
[2] A month later, Rajagopalachari was unanimously elected as the president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee (TNCC) at the conference held in Vellore.
[4] A month later, Rajagopalachari intended to initiate a protest—on the lines of Dandi March—on the eastern coast to make salt at Vedaranyam, Tanjore District, Madras Presidency.
[5][6] Rajaji initially thought of choosing Kanyakumari, the point where the Arabian Sea, the Bay of Bengal and the Indian Ocean confluence with each other.
Out of the first batch, twenty-four were from Madurai, fifteen from Tirunelveli, twelve from Ramanathapuram, eleven from Madras, nine from Tiruchengodu, nine from Bombay, seven from Tanjore, five from Trichinopoly, four from Coimbatore and one each from North Arcot and Srirangam.
Other preventive measures included, censoring news items related to the march and taking actions against the editors of the nationalist newspapers.
[3] The marchers sang the hymn "Ragupathi Raagava Rajaram" and a Tamil song which was composed by Namakkal Ramalingam Pillai for the march.
[12] Using newspapers, leaflets (printed in Tamil), town-criers and press, Thorne informed the would-be hosts that anyone offering food or shelter to the marchers was liable to six-months of imprisonment and fine.
[13][14] When Rajagopalachari learned of the collector's order, he said that he could understand the mindset of his own people better than a British ICS officer could and remarked, "Thorne and thistles cannot stem this tide of freedom.
"[13][14] Panthulu Iyer, an ex-member of the Legislative Council and a resident of Kumbakonam, ignored Thorne's order and provided accommodation for the marchers for two days and arranged a grand dinner for them at his house.
[15] On 25 April, the marchers reached Tiruthuraipoondi and had planned to stay at a choultry which was managed by Ramachandra Naidu, a close associate of Pillai.
The Indian staff who were employed by the British stopped performing their daily activities, while barbers and washermen refused to serve the government employees.
[14] During the march, Rajagopalachari and the marchers highlighted the importance of Civil Disobedience Movement as well as khadi and social issues like caste discrimination.
As soon as the group reached Vedaranyam, Rajagopalachari called for more participants and publicly declared that the salt laws would be broken on 30 April.
The collector, Thorne, who at first had been confident of his ability to prevent the march, was forced to report to his superiors: "If there ever existed a fervid sense of devotion to the (British) Government, it is now the defunct".
[14][19] Rukmini Lakshmipathi, who was imprisoned for one year, became the first woman to serve a jail term for participating in the Salt Satyagraha movement.
[3][20] As a result of the Gandhi Irwin Pact—signed on 5 March 1931—the Congress suspended the Civil Disobedience Movement and the British, in turn, released all the prisoners.
