Q1. [1] medium thorough-understanding
[mcq] Which of the following best explains why Mahatma Gandhi chose salt as the symbol for launching the Civil Disobedience Movement in 1930?
((A)) Salt was a commodity exclusively imported from Britain, making its boycott a direct economic blow to British trade.
((B)) Salt was a universal necessity consumed by every Indian regardless of caste, class or region, so a tax on it united all sections of society against colonial exploitation.
((C)) The salt industry was the largest employer in India, and targeting it would maximise disruption to the colonial economy.
((D)) Salt had deep religious significance across all Indian communities, making it the most powerful symbol for a movement seeking Hindu-Muslim unity.
- A Salt could only be produced by the British government, making its manufacture an easy act of defiance for trained satyagrahis alone.
- B Salt was consumed by every Indian regardless of class, caste or religion, and the state monopoly over it visibly symbolised colonial exploitation of ordinary life.
- C Foreign cloth boycotts had already achieved their goal of halving imports, so a new grievance was needed to sustain momentum.
- D The Viceroy had specifically refused to negotiate on salt taxes, making it a ready-made point of confrontation with the government.
Generated by claude-sonnet-4-6 · 2026-06-26 15:02 · grounding rag
Model Answer
Answer: (B)
Salt was consumed by every Indian regardless of class, caste or religion, and the state monopoly over its production visibly symbolised colonial exploitation of ordinary life.
Source: The Salt March and the Civil Disobedience Movement, Chapter 2
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Explanation
The passage directly states: "Salt was something consumed by the rich and the poor alike… The tax on salt and the government monopoly over its production… revealed the most oppressive face of British rule." This makes Option B the correct match — it captures both the universality of salt and the symbolic power of the monopoly. The other options in the question stem are incorrect: salt was not exclusively imported from Britain (A), not the largest employer (C), and its selection was not primarily about religious significance (D). In the MCQ options given, A wrongly restricts defiance to trained satyagrahis, C and D introduce facts not supported by the passage. Examiners look for the two key ideas: universal consumption and colonial monopoly as exploitation.