Which chemical was an important symbol in our struggle for freedom ?

Sodium chloride, commonly known as salt, served as a powerful and unifying symbol during the Indian freedom struggle [2]. In 1930, Mahatma Gandhi launched the Dandi March to protest the British salt monopoly and the 'wicked' salt tax, which disproportionately affected the poor by taxing a vital necessity [3]. Because salt was indispensable to every Indian household regardless of class, it became a masterstroke of political theatre that mobilized the masses against colonial rule [5]. On April 6, 1930, Gandhi symbolically defied British law by picking up a lump of natural salt at the Dandi coast, transforming a simple chemical compound into a symbol of national liberation and civil disobedience. This act effectively shifted the independence movement from an urban debate into a widespread mass campaign [5].

Sources

1. [1] Science , class X (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 2: Acids, Bases and Salts > 2.4.3 Chemicals from Common Salt > p. 29
2. [2] India and the Contemporary World – II. History-Class X . NCERT(Revised ed 2025) > Chapter 2: Nationalism in India > 3.1 The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement > p. 39
3. [3] THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART III, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 11: MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT > Why the Salt Satyagraha? > p. 297
4. [4] THEMES IN INDIAN HISTORY PART III, History CLASS XII (NCERT 2025 ed.) > Chapter 11: MAHATMA GANDHI AND THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT > 3.1 Dandi > p. 296
5. [5] https://www.thehindu.com/sci-tech/health/salt-gandhi-and-the-physiology-of-sodium-hunger/article70069082.ece