Suddenly, at a word of command, scores of native policeman rushed upon the advancing marchers and rained blows on their heads with their steel-shod lathis. Not one of the marchers even raised an arm to fend off the blows. They went down like ten-pins. From where I stood I heard the sickening whack of the clubs on unprotected skulls. The waiting crowd of marchers groaned and sucked in their breath in sympathetic pain at every blow. Those struck down fell sprawling, unconscious or writhing with fractured skulls or broken shoulders. Group after group walked forward, sat down, and submitted to being beaten into insensibility without raising an arm to fend off the blows. Finally the policeman became enraged by the non-resistance They commenced savagely kicking the seated men in the abdomen and testicles. The injured men writhed and squealed in agony, which seemed to inflame the fury of the police, and the crowd again almost broke away from their leaders. The police then began dragging the sitting men by their arms or feet, sometimes for a hundred yards and the throwing them into ditches. One was dragged into the ditch where I stood; the splash of his body doused me with muddy water. Another policeman dragged a Gandhi man to the ditch, threw him in, and belabored him over the head with his lathi. Hour after hour stretcher-bearers carried back a stream of inert, bleeding bodies (Chada, 1998).
For days these events were repeated and eventually they were reported to the Viceroy who consequently never visited the scene to witness for himself the cruelty and horror of the Bitishs actions. United Press circulated Webb Miller s dispatch to over a thousand papers throughout the world. The Satyagrahis during the entire campaign were able to withstand the vicious blows and not resort to violence, remembering the strict commitment they had made when they accepted the life and principles of a Satyagraha. Their great fortitude and control would deliver Indian from British rule and all Indians would successfully attain swaraj or self-rule.
Hence, Civil disobedience, and the struggles endured by the Indians would not of been effective without the moral power of, and commitment to Satyagraha. Satyagraha provided for the Indians a way of living during a time of discrimination, exploitation, and oppression and generated great sympathy for the Indians during their campaigns. Moreover, the moral appeal of the Satyagrahi helped to convert the opponent and make him see the evil of his ways. On the other hand, the concept of Satyagraha would have been a failure if not for the strict commitment and fortitude demonstrated by all Satyagrahis. If the Satyagrahis had resorted to violence they would not of been able to separate themselves from the evil of their opponents. Fortunately, however, each Satyagrahi proved during such events as the Black Act Satyagraha, and Salt Satyagraha that the soul can remain unconquered and unconquerable even when the body is imprisoned. Satyagraha is the reason why Indians today enjoy swaraj, or self-rule.