dandi march discription

1. What Moves Masses: Dandi March as Communication Strategy
Author(s): Suchitra
Source: Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. 30, No. 14 (Apr. 8, 1995), pp. 743-746
Published by: Economic and Political Weekly
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2. APERSPECTIVES
What Moves Masses
Dandi March as Communication Strategy
Suchitra
Purposefully evoking various meanings surrounding salt, yatra and Dandi,
Gandhi credibly communicated the message of swaraj to audiences in
India and abroad.
MARD, a hit Hindi film of the 80s, has a
scene where the heroine chains the hero,
flogs him and rubs salt into his wounds. The
hero does not even flinch but proclaims;
"For this salt our Mahatma led a revolution.
That day the blood of thousands of matyrs
flowed into thi:; salt. Today, by rubbing it
intomy wounds, you are mingling my blood
with theirs. This salt may burn the wounds
of traitors but notof the loyal." That the Salt
Satyagrahashould find amention in apopular
film, half a century after it tookplace, shows
the deep impact this event has had on the
Indian imagination. To the common mind,
salt has become a symbol of patriotism,
rebellion-and sacrifice. The imagery of the
event is echoed not only in popular
entertainment media but also in intellectual
expression. A few days after the demolition
of the Babri masjid, Gopal Gandhi wrote,
"You lifted one fistful of salt/ And an emp-
ire was shamed/ Lift/ One fistful of rubble
now/ And pour it on our shameful heads"
[Mainstrecon, December 19, 1992] . Salt has
thus come to symbolise India's triumph over
her coloniser and the fact that this was done
non-violently in the face of repression has
made theevent a symbol of moral supe-riority.
Just as salt has become a symbol, the
'march' too has become a symbolic means
of expressing support for any progressive
cause. Similarly, Dandi too is chosen as a
symbolic destination of such endeavours.
The Salt March to Dandi itself was restaged
some years ago by Rajiv Gandhi, and more
recently, a few days before the Ayodhya
events, by a group of young people. It is
almost as if any time an individual or group
needs to establish their bona fides as being
pro-nation, pro-people and especially pro-
poor, reference to the salt march enhances
the credibility of their own particular cause.
If salt, march and Dandi still evoke patrio-
tic associations today, in 1930 they had an
even more powerful effect. The campaign
achieved the single largest mobilisation of
Indians andover 90,000wenttoJail. This mass
participationshooktheBritish. Tnhe satyagraha
had an impact on world opinion too, so muh
so that after the event Gandhi was nominated
Time magazine's 'Man of the Year', and was
on the cover of the first issue of 1931.
For a professional communicator it is of
enormous interest to understand how such
a mass response was evoked. But nowhere
can one find an accountof the communication
strategy which Gandhi used to achieve this
response. School history books give the
impression that Gandhi plucked out of thin
air the idea of breaking the salt laws, picked
up his staff and walked off to Dandi while
the entire nation rallied around him as if he
was the Pied Piper of Porbandar.
Surely, it could not have been so simple.
This study examines the Salt Satyagraha to
see how the communication strategy behind
it was conceived and organised, which media
were used to reach the target audiences and
how the masses were persuaded to join the
movement. It tries to examine what a
professional involvement in communication
for social causes can learn from an eventof
the past, and how and whether techniques
successful in the past can be used again in
present-day situatiofts.
The study concentrates on Gujarat, and
apart from looking at secondary materials
in English and Gujarati, I was able to meet
a person who actually marched to Dandi
with Gandhi, others who were present during
the raid on the Dharisana Salt Depot and
still others who were involved in media-
related activities at that time. These
conversations yielded valuable insights into
the way communication networks function
and the reactions of people at the receiving
end of communication strategies.
CONCEIVINCG STRA1EGY
The Salt Satyagraha was a carefully
constructed event and to understand its
dynamics one has to examine how Gandhi
visualised the event, why he chose salt, why
he decided to march and why he selected
Dandi as destination.
In December 1929, when the Congress
declared 'purna swaral' as its goal, several
ideas were suggested on what form civil
disobedience should take. Nehru and Bose
suggested the formation of a parallel
government while Patel proposed a march
to Delhi. or alternatively, a countrywide
breaking of land laws. Gandhi discarded
these suggestions because "... he had the
perspective of a long drawn out movement
in which the mass of the peopre had to be
mobilised... the British would pounce on
things like a march onto Delhi and parallel
government immediately" (interview with
Dinakar Mehta). So these ideas were obviously
not the stuff mass movements were made of.
Gandhi's approach to the problem was
different. For him independence was more
than mere political emancipation. So civil
disobedience meant a movement which
would press for autonomy as well as raise
mass consciousness leading to social,
economic and moral regeneration. And
before he decided how this was to be done
he analysed his target audience. Indian
society, his main audience, was a fractured
society made up of disparate groups. The
other important target was public opinion
in Britain and abroad which was usually
unsympathetic tolndian aspirations. Pressure
could be brought upon the British raj only
if India's antagonistic groups could be united
in action and if liberal British and world
opinion would support the Congress demands.
Gandhi could not right away think of a
strategy that would fulfil these criteria.
Instead he focused on making the concept
of swaraj less abstract for the masses. He
began by drafting a declaration which was
read out at the first independence day
celebrations on January26,1930. Itpresented
a brief critique of British rule in which the
injustice of the salt tax made its first
appearance. Next came his letter to viceroy
Irwin which spelt out his vision of swaraj
in the form of eleven demands. The fourth
of these demands, which ranged from total
prohibition to protective tariff on foreign
cloth, was the call for the abolition of the
salt tax. It was only in mid-February that
he singled out the salt tax and decided that
civil disobedience should take the form of
a nationwide breaking of the salt laws.
And yet, the unjustness of the salt laws
as a political issue was not a new one. The
first riots in protest against this tax happened
in 1844 in Surat district, where, almost
hundred years later, the Salt satyagraha took
place. The tax was criticised at the inaugural
session of the Congress in 1885, and over
the years was severely condemned by
Dadabhoy Naoroji and Gokhale. Even the
idea of using salt in a mass mobilisation
campaign had been explored earlier. During
the Swadeshi movement, Surendranath
Banerjee had toured the villages urging the
boycott of Manchester cloth and Liverpool
salt. Actually, even Gandhi had written
against the tax before.
It is important to acknowledge that
focusing on salt was not an 'original' idea.
What was novel was the way Gandhi was
able to transform it into a powerful tool. for
communicating with the Indian masses, the
British government and the international
audience. It was not the originality of the
idea that was responsible for his stfccess but
the way he handled it.
CHOOSING. SALT, YATRA AND DANDI
By choosing salt, Gandhi, in one stroke
fulfilled all the criteria he had set himself.
Economic and Political Weekly April 8, 1995 743
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3. As a substance of common use, salt cut
across religious, caste and class differences.
It offered Hindus and Muslims a platform
for a joint struggle on an economic issue;
for the poor it was a symbol of exploitation.
for the rich a struggle against the salt laws
gave an opportunity for symbolic
identification with mass suffering.
Being a substance on which human
existence depended, salt could makc a
tremendous emotional appeal. The campaign
could go beyond the political plane to take
on ethical and moral dimensions which could
attract sympathy from world public opinion.
Another supporting factor was that in the
west too there was a long tradition of
opposition to the salt tax, going back to the
days of the French Revolution.
But it was the cultural appeal of salt which
was Gandhi's trump card. In both Indian and
western tradition. salt is the symbol of all
that is vital to human life and exalted in
human relationship. as seen in the myriad
idioms associated with it. Because of this.,
the theme of salt lends itself to linguistic and
metaphoric use - a quality which professional
communicators know is invaluable in a rnass
campaign. This quality was used to great
effect by Gandhi and this aspect has been
explored later.
Though Gandhi had decided on salt after
much deliberation, he realised that people
would not automatically rally around him.
He needed to make a dramatic appeal. So
he decided to go on a march. A march would
give him the opportunity to rouse the people
in thecountryside through which he passed.
It would be a live drama generating press
publicity in India and the world. If on the
other hand, he were to simply take a train
to some place on the coast, arriving there
the next day, the event would he too fleeting
and have no propaganda value.
Like salt, the march too has a place in
Indian tradition. Pilgrimages to holy places
were made on foot and viewed as penanice
and such pilgrims were revered. In western
and Indian mythology, marches are
associated with determination, righteous-ness
and sacrifice for acause. The Bible describe.s
Moses leading his people to the promised
land, Jesus leading his followers toJerusalem,
Rama leaving home to honour his father's
pledge and Gautama renouncing his home
in the questfor enlightenment. Gandhi used
these associations to great effect.
Thedecisiontomake Dandiin Suratdistrict
thedestination of the march was taken after
considering many alternatives closer to
Ahmedabad. The idea was not Gandlhi's own
but was suggested by his colleague Kalyanji
Mehta who had a keen understanding of the
publicity value of the event. He felt that if
Gandhi broke the law at Dandi. the inctreased
length of the march would give an
opportunity to rally the public in the whole
of Gujarat and give extra time for the impact
-to spread to the re.st of the co untry. He
selected the spot in such a way that Gandhi
would reach there and break the law on
April 6. This was symbolic because that
day marked the beginning of "national
week".which commemorated the Rowlatt
Satyagraha and the Jallianwala Bagh
killings and was being observed by freedom
fighters since 1921. Gandhi appreciated this
suggestion and Dandi, an unknown coastal
village in Gujarat, found a place on the
historical map of India.
But good ideas and symbols alone do not
automatically ensure the success of a
campaign. To be effective, it has to be
tactically and practically sound. The lawyer
in Gandhi had noted that the penal sections
of the law were niot so severe so larger
numbers could be persuaded to participate
without fear of harshl punishment. The law
could be broken in a variety of ways -
manufacturing salt, possessing illegally
manufactured salt. selling it. buying it and
exhorting to buy and sell such salt - all were
breachecs of the law. This gave ample scope
forparticipating according toone's potential.
As long as the march was conducted
peacefully there was no provision in the law
which prohibited it. Like breaking the salt
law. marching needed no special skills or
exceptional courage which would ensure the
participation of ordinary people. It was also
amedium which could be and was effectively
replicated in otther parts of the country.
Dandi. too, was strategically ideal because
Surat district had the strongest netxvork of
Congress workers, the impo)rtance of which is
discussed next.
RAPPoRT WITH ME)DIA ANI) MASSES
The :salt satyagralha was planned in less
than a month's time - conceived in mid-
February and conducted in mid-March. The
mobilisation whichl the event achieved was
possible not only because of the issues it
addressed but also due to the support of a
network of trained workers. This network
did not develop overnight but ov'er years of
grass roots constructive work. Now when
the rloment of crisis hlad1 come, it was the
students and(i teachers ot 1he national sclools
and colleges who researched the salt laws.
the khadi workers and Gandhiani aslhram
inmates who wrote articles explaining the
issue's and qpractical instructions on salt
manufacture and the village workers who
explained the nature of the struggle to the
rural masses and latercourageously producedl
und(ergroundl newspapers.
Along witlh political trainiing, these
workers, many of whom were women, were
trained todevelop theircomnmunication skillIs.
They were taught to use prayer meeting.s for
the politicisation of the mas-ses. After
devotional activities, articles from Young
India and Ncivji'van were read out and
explained to prepare the audience for the
coming struggle. They were taught bha'jans
and songs which would be useful for
consciousness raising.
The printmedium t was well-developed
before the marclh. Gandhi had taken over
Young India and Na1vjivn after he came
back from Southl Africa and they reacehedl
every village through the network of wor kers;
he was developing simultaneously. When
the time for satyagraha came, these weeklies
with theirestablished readership were ready
to carry the message of salt. Gandhii also
consciously maintained contact with the
world press. In the days before the march,
despite hectic preparations he made time for
foreign journalists. They were the only
channel through which the struggle could
be publicised abroad. He was very conscious
of the power of the pre.s.s and was particular
about beinig quoted accurately. "...He used
to insist as a pre-conditioni that his messages
and statements should be publisshed in full
without the slightest alteration.." [Watson
and Brown 1959: 591. Hc realised( that
"...Ignorant reporters harm mc an(d thc
struggle" [Desai 1972:1231.
SAIT AND SWARAJ
Thie three elements of the satyagraha -
salt, the mar-clh and Dandi - with their hi.sto-
ric. symbolic. metaphoric anid linguistic
associationis were used t(o great effect by
Gandhi to propagate hiis vision of swaraj
among his Indian audience and to gain the
sympathy of his audience abroad. Thiis can
be seen in the symbolic gestures he madle
and the speecles he gave on the way to Dandi.
Gandhii used the structure of the march
itself to communicate the united India that
he envisaged. The group of 79 which
accompanied 'him represented all the
provinces of Indlia and( includeed Muslims.
Christians and highi and low caste Hin(lus.
By selecting Abbas Tyabji and Sarojini
Naidu to replace him as leader in the event
of lhis arrest hie symbolically conveyed hi.s
rcgard forMuslims antd women thus prohably
hioping for their support an(d conifidlenice.
Even his decision to stay at a Muslim s home
in Dandi was such a gesture. Similarly. by
sending the vicero-y the letter descrihing his
intention of breaking the salt laws through
an Englishman he symbolically demonstrated
that it was the British rule he was fighting
and not the British. This made an impact
on the we.stern mind and Rcginald Reynolds.
the man who took the letter. later-recalled.
"I realised that Gandhli'.s use of me was
symbolic - it was to show that this was nrot
a matter of Indians versus British but of
principles" [Watson and Brown 1959:581 .
Speeches were the only direct audlio-visual
medium available to Gancdhi. Over the 25
days of the march. he visited 40 villages and
at chicii village he gave a speechi. reachi;ing
an e.stimated 5 1 akh pet ple. In these speeches
hle preseinted .salt a.-s the epitome of Britislh
exploitaitionI ani(d tried to exhort people to
break the law. He dlid this dlifferently for
differeint sections of society - to Hindus he
used imagery from mythology an(d invoked
the Hindu concept otf Iharma, righteousness.
When appealing to the Muslims hie quoted
lslamic parables and the Koran. And to
persuade both groups to act. he used the
religious concepts of sin and duty: "'Nowhere
in thec world i.s there a law like the s;alt law.
It there i.s such a1 law. then it i.s a dlemonic
law, a .satalnic law. To be loyal to a governmentt
744 Economic and Political Weekly April 8. 1995
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4. which implements such a law is not dharma
hut adharma" [Desai 1972:391. Also,
'Therefore it is your religious duty to break
the salt law...God is sure to he pleased with
your actions and you will obtaini salvation"
[Government of Maharaslhtra 1969:431.
Often hle would use this idiom related to
salt. '.In thlis struggle do inot be 'untrue to
-salt'. T7his tax can he removed only if you
are true to salt" [Desai 1972:811. He then
related the struggle against the salt laws to
the inportance of constructive activities in
the attainment of swaraj: "Do not think that
swaraj exists in a mountain of salt and not
in a buntdle of'thread. And pro-hibition is also
onel of the prerequisites of' swaraj" [Mehta
an l)Desai 1973:301.
Ganidhi persNonified swarii as a goddess.
and therefore. l)andi as a holy spot and the
marc:h as a pilgiimage and connected these
to th tconsr.uctive activilies: "The immediate
destination of our pilgrimage is Dandi hut
the real destination is the Goddess of
In(lependence" l )esai 1972? -:41 1. Dandi . he
.,e;iid. was Hairidwar and to enter suclh a puIC
place one had to) become eligible. Anid that
could oilvy. eh achieved using khadi aindl
giving up liquor. It is interesting to note tliat
in all his attempts to appeal to the Muslim
imagination. Gaindhi nlever, on1ce used the,
imagery of the 'ha j'. In fa;ct. Danidi itself
was a Muslim pilgrimage spot. Gandlhi was
so sensitive to the pot(ntial for publicity in
a;ny situation that it is di fficult t.believe that
he liad missed this aspect.
Ganidhi used thc speeches as .in occasion
to attract women to the miovement. ( )Ocourse,
he used I'amiiiiar exaImples from mytihology
referring to the courage of' Sita ani l)raupadi
and evenclaiming thiat Sita wore only klhz,(di.
But more powerlul than this was his alppeal
towomens self-esteem by publiclyappreciating
their contribution to the cause: "... in tlhe utoni-
violent stnuggle for swiiraj. women's shlare is
laiger and in the future our childlreni will say
that in this sstruggle. my mothcr . my sister made
a higger contribution" [ )esai 1972:4 1i.
After the'-march. duuring his negoiation5
with thle viceroy. Gandhi took out a bag of
contraband salt and dIropped a pinch into) hiis
cup of tea. saying, "To remind us of the
famous Bos-tdn Tea Party" [William SShirer
1981:991. He was referring to the incident
whicll marked the beginning of the end of
British imperialism in America. By
symb,olically equating the salt satyagralha to
Bo.ston tea party. Ganidhii signialled the cend
of the British rule in India.
This symbolic imagely related to salt.
march and Dlandi was infectious. It was
echzoed in the writings of foreign journalists
who comparedl Gandhi to Moses and Jesus
anid in the articles bv Malhadev Desai who
drew parallels between the Dandi march and
Buddlha's nuhabhinishkrainacn. Visuual puns
relating to salt were made by Indian and
foreign cartoonists.
Songs were anotherway of stirring people
asnd Dand3aben-. a tribal woman frorm Vedlcchi.
recall.s hoew .singing songs co)ntributedl in
creating an environment of protest. "That
was the environment in those days. We were
r eady to die. We used to sing a lot of songs.
If you have to break laws, you have to sing
a lot" (personal communication). Apart from
general patriotic songs, there were verses
specially composed for the event, exploiting
the symbolic associations with salt through
lively word play. One song exhorted people
to join the 'holy war' and not be 'loon
haram' (untrue to salt). Another called on
the Hindus anid the Muslims to unite and
show theiir salt, demonstrate their loyalty
and patriotism '. Punning on Dandi and Raas
(where Vallabhbai Patel was arrested a few
days before the march started) with Dandia
Raas (a popular Gujarati folk dance), one
composition encouraged people to dance
the l)andia Raas of Gandhi and Patel and
destroy the government [Desai 19721.
The importance of these media can be seen
from the fact that the British tried to counter
the satyagraha by systematically choking
the means of communication. Realising the
impact of the Gandhian newspapers. first
came the ordinances which shut down the
presses. Seeing the impact of the speeches, the
Britissh arrested Gandhi. the Congress leaders
and village levelworkens. Letlters and telegrams
w cre of course censored but the British police
relenltlessly pursued the editors of the
undergrounid newspapers which replaced the
outla'wed nationalist press. They even hunted
down the composers of the songs, and Makanji
Sola. oneofthemost accomplishedcomposers,
recalls the manydisguises he had used toescape
from the clutches of the police (personal
communication).
CR.lAnDii,rnY FA(TOR
Today. we glibly use the imagery of 'salt',
mnarclh and( 'l)andi' but the potetntial of
nole ot these was recogniised at that time.
Congress leaders we:re tar from cnth1usiastic
to Gianh(iii's proposal. Nor did the British
lhlink that a caimnpaignl against the salt la.w
would posea ii treat to} their power. The only
otics who realised the value of the idlea were
Gandhi's junior colleagues in the district
network as shown earlier. Ironically. the
othrc group which aippreciated the tactical
-hrewdnessof tlh plan was the British police.
But did the issue appeal to the masses as
Gandhi thoulght it would'! We have seen that
the imagery of the event was reflected in
popular writing. cartoons and songs. But
ordinary people also responded. as can be
seen trom conversations witlh people who
participated in the event. Dandaben. a tribal
woman whose brother went to Dharasana.
recalls: "Fromn our own country the
governmenit was- not allowing us to take salt
.. .people felt the burden... so wlhen Gandliji
started a struggle on this issue. peoplejointied
it" (personal communication).
Under:standing the issue, andl finding it
relevant was one reason why people
participated. The othler reason we:nt beyond
mere compere:hensionl of' i.ssue:s a^nd
idecnti ticationi with them. l)asr;lihen.l anotC)her
tribal participant, acknowledges: "To tell
you the truth. Gandhiji was the main
attraction" (per.sonal communication). Many
of those interviewed reported that common
folk were impressed by Gandhi's simple
life-style. his lack of wealth and possessions.
The fact that he did manual labour was
highly influential. The Gandhianconstructive
programme appealed because it addressed
their problems, and proposed .solutions not
in terms of ideology but practice: "... Banias
and Brahmins used to exploit us ... so the
idea that we could card, spin and weave
cotton into clothes for ourselves was very
attractive ... we could do without the bania"
(person4l communication).
The importance of credibility in the
creation of successful communication hias to
be stressed because it is an element which
the medium-message model of
communication does not take into account.
Issues and information may be relevanit
and well-designed. But communication
efforts. especially for social causes can
accomplish changes in behaviour patterns
only if the source of the message has
credibility with the audience. A message
however sound or true, has no appeal for
common people if its advocates fail in
conduct. Too often credibility is confused
with charisma. Charisma is no doubt useful
when it comes to influencing au(diences and
it is a quality a communicator is either bom
with or does not have at all. But credibility
is a quality which a communicator can
levelop. Gandhi was aware of this, and
though changes in life-style was part of his
spiritual quest. he knew their significance
when itcame tolhis influenceoverthemasses:
... and if my life doesn't carry that message
to you. the wordl of my mouth will never
succeed..." [Watson and Brown 1959:171.
He also knew that credibility has to be
consistently maintained: "If the people feel
the slightest distrustof us. they will condemn
the whole movement" [Weber nd: 228].
Often. when the ireason behind Gandhi's
appeal is examined, writers tend to ascribe
it to his use of religious symbols. But if it
was just the use of religious symbols then
anybody could use them and be successful.
People are not so gullible as, to swallow
anythlinig thatis given to them with the sugar
coating of religion. Perhaps it was not so
muclh the religious character of the symbols
as much as their familiarity thatmade them
effective ais a means of communication.
Characters from mythology are familiar and
admired, and ini his speeches. Gandhi tried
to attribute certiiin qualities lt wvell known
hleroic figures hopinig that these too would
be aidmired and einulated.
Religious' imatgerv helped people to
understand the message. The suggestion that
it was religious sentimnent which motivated
them to implement it is debatable. For
example, not one of the women interviewed
.ai(l that they began to wear khadi because
Si ta wore it . Andl inl spite of Gandehi ' .s repeated
declaration.s that the marchl wa.s a religious
ke;onomic and Political Weekly April 8. 1995 745
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5. pilgrimage, Lalji Parmar, one of the 79
marchers when asked why Gandhi decided
on the march, responded: "So that it could
be used as publicity round the world"
(personal communication). And Dasriben,
when asked if she felt that the march was
a partof religious tradition, said: "No, it was
a new concept. Gandhiji did it for publicity.
Walking all the way resulted in song much
publicity. So the march was a medium for
publicity" (personal communication). Using
religious vocabulary was part of Gandhi's
natural verbal expression. Besides, itwas the
acceptable idiom in the early years of this
century. Gandhi's use of religious imagery
has to be viewed against this background
and not in the sense of propagatinig religious
doctrine.
The salt strategy also had its limitations
in its appeal to Gandhi's audience. Despite
all efforts at picking an economic, non-
religious issue, publicising it in terms that
people would identify with and using his
credibility, Gandhi was not able to mobilise
a significant numberof Muslimsi. The quotes
from the Koran failed to appeal and the
nationalist Muslims did not have any
credibility with themas.sesoftheiercommunity.
Thus, Mohammed Ali's call to boycott the
salt satyagraha because it was aimed at
creating a Hindu raj was successful in
ensuring that Muslim participation was
meagre.
CAN DANDI BE REPEATED?
On March 11. 1931, Gandhi leftfor Dandi
again to ensure that his pact with Irwin was
honoured. He left on the same day as the
historic march, by the same route. But this
time he went by car and reached there in two
days. There were no symbols, no persuasive
speeches and no religious imagery. Salt,
march and Dandi had been picked to fulfil
a particular set of circumstances and once
the situation had changed they no longer had
any relevance, they had outlived their
usefulness. That is why, when the movement
was re-started in 1932, again protesting
against the salt laws, the response was very
poor. Nariman noted the lack of enthusiasm:
"[therenewed call for action] appeared very
stale... and failed to appeal, particularly to
the youthful imagination of the country. The
purely spectacular and demonstrative items
such as flag hoisting and salt manufacture
that had created great enthusiasm a few
years ago, failed to evoke the same enthusi-
asm now, not because the spirit of nationa-
lism had changed or weakened, but because
these oft-repeated functions had lost their
novelty and glamour" [Kumar 1986:273].
The point here is that the approach has
to be a problem solving one and not a media-
centred one. It is themedia centred approach
that results in the formulaic use of
communication materials/media, instead of
analysing what the demands of the situation
are. Going on a march to focus on a problem
might get it publicity but it will certainly
not solve it. Repeatedly going on marches
merely devalues the march as a
communication medium andl creates public
apathy towards the problem. This dloes not
mean that each time a novel idea hias to be
produced. Obviously, what is needled is an
appropriate idea which only a problem-
solving approach can throw up.
LFsSONS IN CoMMIJNICATION
Six main themes emerge from this study
of Gandhi's communication methods. Fir.st,
a communication strategy can be successful
only if it is visualised from the poinit of view
of the audience whiicl is at the receiving end
of the messages. Only if they feel that the
message is relevant to them will they identify
with it and only if they identify with it will
they consider the behaviour change and
action that the message is expectinig of them.
Second, communicators will be able to
think from the peoples' point of view only
if they have a deep understanding of them
in the first place. This means knowing their
life-style, priorities. loyalties and aspirations
in order to messh the message with their lives
and draw from them their willing
participationi. Such an understanding can
happen only afterfirsthand expo.sure through
extensive travel and study. People and groups
are constantly r esponding to chatnging
pres.sure, which means that communicators
must constantly keep in touch with their
audiences and update their understanding
and devise their strategies accordingly.
Tlhird, communicators working for social
causes have to explain to people a variety
of abstract concept.s - hygiene, nutrition,
secularism. social justice, etc. People can
understand and identify with these goals
only if they are concretised in some form
and made to relate directly with their lives.
This means that the unfamiliar has to be
explained through something familiar.
Symbols, being a part of peoples' past, can
be reinterpreted to become effective media
for communicating modern and abstract
concepts.
Fourth, even if a communicationcampaign
is well thought out, conceived with a people-
centred attitude and mediated through
familiar symbols, it does not mean that the
people will automatically accept it. It also
depends on who is giving the message. If
the source of the message does not inspire
confidence then it may not be acted upon.
And credible sources are different for
different messages and different audiences.
Creating credibility is a continuous process
and it is something a communicator has to
work on to maintain.
Fffth,goodicleasandcarxiblecommunicators
alone cannot ensure a change in peoples'
behaviour patterns. They need the support
of a reliable infrastructure of human and
material resources to carry out the campaign
and deliver the goods. Like the credibility of
thecommunicatorthis has to bepainstakingly
built up. It cannot materialise overnight.
And lastly, while it is true that a good idea
need not nece.ssarily be a novel one, it .should
not be forgotten thatj ust because a campaign
is a successful one it ca9 be repeated in the
same form again and againi and be successful.
Situations change, peoples' priorities change
and symbols can become ineffective through
overuse. Each problem ha.s to be analysed
afresh and appropriate solutions have to be
worked out anew. Otherwise, communication
strategies will be reduced to formulae and
time, energy and resources will be wasted
in repeating these formulae to an
unresponsive audience.
The study of the salt satyagraha opens up
new areas. for research and brings to mind
mobilisation efforts from the more recent
past which could be similarly analysed. Both
the BJP and Baha Amte (in his Bharat Jodo
campaign) have attempted to use cultural
-symbols to rally people with varying degrees
of success. At a more literal level, George
Fernandes' campaign against Cargill's salt
plant at Kandla tried to take on the image
of an 'action replay' of the salt satyagraha.
There are press reports of Swami Agnivesh
planning a 'march' to mobilise women in
Haiyana against the sale of liquor. It would
be instructive to see if the six themes thrown
up by this study repeat themselves in these
and other attempts to mobilise people. If
they do, then in what form do they manifest
themselves? And if they do not, which are
the other variables that go to make up this
complex phenomenon called communication.
[This article is pait of a longer study which was
malde possible by generous support from SETU,
Centre for Social Knowledge and Action,
Ahmedabad. Special thanks to Achyut Yagnik
and Vimal Balasubrahmanyan for their encour-
agement and support which made this study
possible. I have also benefited from the com-
ments of Varsha Bhagat, S Balaram, Harsh Sethi
and Tnrdip Suhrid. I am deeply grateful to Ashok
Chaudhary and his famiily who made it possible
for me to interview people who had participated
in the salt satyagraha. It is to these people, who
shared their memories with me, to whom I am
indebted - Valjibaba, Makanji Sola, Dandaben,
Dasriben, Banaben, Kanjibhai, Bhavsinhbhai,
Nanoobhai, Prabhubhai Patel, Sombhai Patel,
Gosainbhai Patel and Laljibhai Parmar.- Without
them this study would have remained an academ-
ic exercise.]
References
Desai, Ishwarlal (1972): Dandi Yatra, Swatantraya
Itihas Samiti, Surat.
Government of Maharashtra (1969): Source
Material for the History of the Freedom
Movement in Itdia, Vol III, MahatmaGandhi,
Pail III: 1929-31.
Kumar, Ravinder (1986): Essayv in the Social
History of Itndia, Oxford University Press.
Mehta, Kalyanji and Ishwarlal Desai (1973):
Dandi Kuch, Gujarat Government,
Gandhinagar.
Shire, William (1981): Gandhi - A Memnoir,
Abacus, London.
Watson, Francis and Maurice Brown (1959):
Talking of Gandhiji, Oxford University Press,
Weber, Thomas (nd): 'On the Salt March -
Gandhi's Epic March to Dandi Remembered'
(manuscript), Gujarat Vidyapith Library,
Ahmedabad.
746 Economic and Political Weekly April 8, 1995
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