Gandhiji decided to march 240 miles from Sabarmati Ashram to Dandi, a seaside village in Gujarat, to break the salt tax by gathering salt from the beach. The march started from Sabarmati at 6.30 a.m. on 12 March 1930, which saw Gandhi, a frail man of 61, with a staff in hand, energetically leading a band of 78 satyagrahis. The roads through which he passed were watered, decorated with arches, flags and torans, and women sat spinning the charkha in villages on the way. Throughout his march Gandhi gave speeches on the way and many people joined him. On April 6, after prayers and a bath in the sea, at 8.30 a.m. he defied the Salt Law by picking up a lump of salt. After this, the Salt Law was broken all over the country.

The authorities had been watching the movement with mingled anxiety and bewilderment. The British had no intention to liquidate their Indian Empire. “over a pinch of Salt”- Earl Russell, the Under-Secretary of State for India, had commented on the Congress demand for complete independence: 'None knows better than the Indians themselves how foolish it is to talk of complete independence. Dominion status is not possible at the moment and would not be for a long time'. “The Salt Satyagraha is but an amusing interlude”. Lord Irwin had expressed the same opinion when he said that the assertion of a goal was not the same thing as its attainment. How far removed they were from the ground realities the subsequent developments were to prove. For the Salt Satyagraha proved to be a turning point in India's struggle for freedom. It spread like wild fire across the country. The non-violent Satyagraha offered by Badshah Khan's followers known as the 'Red Shirts' or Khudai Khidmatgars in the North-West Frontier Province are the stuff found only in the legends and folklores of valiant societies.

This was the satyagrahi on the pilgrimage to swaraj. So moved was Nehru at the epic sight of Gandhiji leading the march that in his public address soon after he gave a call to the youth of India to come out of their homes and universities. “And whither go you, young men and women of India who shouted so loudly and so lately of independence and inquilab? Whither go you? ……The field of battle lies before you, the flag of India beckons to you, and freedom herself awaits your coming. Who lives if India dies, who dies if India lives?”

A particular phenomenon, noted by the nationalist press and in government dispatches alike, was that “women assembled in thousands' to applaud Gandhiji and were taking an uncommon interest in the campaign. This was the most fascinating and unique feature of the Salt Satyagraha that saw the women power to the fore. A novel feature of the Salt Satyagraha was the media attention Gandhiji received. The world attention was sustained in the coming months by numerous Indian and American journalists. The march received prominent coverage in major U.S. newspapers and periodicals throughout 24 days – and also days preceding the event and beyond . The American media appreciated the newsworthy quality of the event, commenting on how the Mahatma “reversing the 'Boston-tea-party' method of revolt,” “like a master showman” “ceremoniously defies the British Government's salt monopoly and its resented tax on salt.” It was this kind of drama that led Time Magazine to name Gandhi “Man of the Year” for 1930 and conclude that more than Stalin or Hitler, the Mahatma deserved the award, “the little brown man whose 1930 mark on world history will undoubtedly look largest of all.”

On 12 March, 1930 at 6.30 p.m. in the morning Mahatma Gandhi set out with seventy-nine volunteers, drawn from different parts of India and faiths and included scholars, newspaper editors, weavers and untouchables. Their ultimate destination was the seashore at Dandi, more than two hundred forty one miles away. Ba applied the benedictory tilak on his forehead and garlanded him, not with flowers but with khadi, and handed to him the walking stick that became his trademark on the march. The march had all the appearance of an epic journey, with Gandhiji at the head of a vast non-violent army. Nehru later observed of Gandhi during the march that he 'was the pilgrim in the quest of truth, peaceful, determined and fearless, who would continue that quiet pilgrimage regardless of the consequences'. Many of those who watched on the shore that early morning of April 6 did indeed believe that they were witnessing a miracle. The deed was done. “With this,” he said, “I am shaking the foundations of the British Empire.” From the Himalayan Peaks to the southernmost tip of Kanyakumari there was only one chant – break the salt law.