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on the anniversary of Dandi March: “Caption: Dandi March anniversary: Pranjivan Mehta first talked of Salt March with Mahatma
AHMEDABAD: The idea of the Salt March against oppressive British laws was for Mahtama Gandhi to show the world how the Raj unfairly imposed Britain's will on even the most basic aspects of Indian life.
Not many know that it was Dr Pranjivandas Jagjivandas Mehta, a Kathiawadi who Mahatma Gandhi described as his "greatest friend and benefactor", with whom Bapu had intense discussions on the idea of the Salt March almost a decade before he set off on it. History books today have little to say about this associate of Gandhi, who had a profound impact on Bapu's life and his Satyagraha movement in India.
"In a letter to the Mahatma, dated 8 September 1920, Pranjivandas urged Bapu the recognize the urgent necessity of a widespread and vigorous agitation against the salt tax, a question he had been interested in for years," says S R Mehrotra, in his book "The Mahatma and the Doctor The Untold Story of Dr Pranjivan Mehta' Mehrotra is a retired historian from Himachal Pradesh University who is a visiting fellow at St John's College, Cambridge University. He says Pranjivandas had been a close friend of Gandhi since the latter's days in London to study law. "Mehta was greatly excited when Gandhi launched the non-cooperation movement in 1921 and wanted to return to India to take part in it. He was terribly concerned about the poverty of India, especially of the debt-ridden peasantry, and often sent Gandhi suggestions for social and economic improvement of the masses, especially the rural poor, "says Mehrotra, in a recent essay. Mehta suffered a major stroke by the mid-1920, while at his home in Burma. He had to spend most of 1920 and 1921 in Europe for treatment.
Mehta came to India in 1926 and again in 1929, to discuss the Salt March and other issues. Exactly one year before Gandhi embarked
Gandhi & Jainism
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