Quit India Movement

Under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi, people across India came together as part of the Quit India Movement to uproot British imperialism. In 1942, in a fiery speech in Mumbai, Mahatma Gandhi gave a ‘do or die’ call to the people of India in a final push to make the British quit. The Quit India Movement, also known as the Bharat Chodo Andolan was a turning point in India’s freedom struggle.

Failure of the Cripps Mission

While factors leading to such a movement had been building up for quite some time, matters acquired sudden momentum with the failure of the Cripps Mission. The World War II was raging, and a beleaguered British needed the cooperation of their colonial subjects in India.

To this end, in March 1942, a mission led by Sir Stafford Cripps arrived in India to meet leaders of the Congress and the Muslim League. The idea was to secure India’s whole-hearted support in the war, in return for self-governance. However, despite the promise of “the earliest possible realisation of self-government in India”, the offer Cripps made was of dominion status, and not freedom. Also, there was a provision of the partition of India, which was not acceptable to the Congress.

The failure of the Cripps Mission made Mahatma Gandhi realise that freedom would be had only by fighting tooth and nail for it. Though initially reluctant to launch a movement that could hamper Britain’s efforts to defeat Fascist forces in the World War, the Congress eventually decided to launch a mass civil disobedience. At the Working Committee meeting in Wardha in July 1942, it was decided the time had come for the movement to move into an active phase.

The Gowalia Tank address by Gandhi

Gandhi seized upon the failure of the Cripps Mission, the advances of the Japanese troops in South-East Asia towards the borders of India, and the general frustration with the British in India. He called for voluntary British withdrawal from India.

The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British Rule of India. A resolution was also passed for civil disobedience if the British did not to agree to the demands for a complete transfer of governance.

The movement began from Mumbai’s Gawalia Tank Maidan also called the August Kranti Maidan. At August Kranti Maidan, Mahatma Gandhi delivered his famous “do or die” speech, which marked the beginning of Quit India Movement. “Here is a mantra, a short one that I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The mantra is: ‘do or die’. We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery,” Mahatma Gandhi said.

The slogan ‘Quit India’ was coined by Yusuf Meherally, a socialist and trade unionist who also served as Mayor of Mumbai. Meherally had also coined the slogan “Simon Go Back”.

The next day, Gandhi, Nehru and many other leaders of the Indian National Congress were arrested by the British Government for sedition. The Indian National Congress was declared unlawful and its leaders were jailed without trial. When all the leading freedom fighters were in jail, Aruna Asaf Ali presided over the Congress session despite warnings from the British government. A large crowd gathered at Gowalia Tank Maidan and Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the national flag. Meanwhile, Mahatma Gandhi urged Indians to act as an independent nation and not follow orders of the British.

People’s movement

The arrest of the leaders, however, failed to deter the masses. With no one to give directions, people took the movement into their own hands. Disorderly and non-violent demonstrations took place throughout the country in the following days. The protests spread rapidly into smaller towns and villages.

Underground activities were taken by several leaders. Female leaders like Usha Mehta helped set up an underground radio station which led to the awakening about the movement.

The movement saw violence at several places, which was not premeditated. Police stations, courts, post offices and other symbols of government authority were attacked. Railway tracks were blocked, students went on strike in schools and colleges across India, and distributed illegal nationalist literature. Mill and factory workers in Bombay, Ahmedabad, Poona, Ahmednagar, and Jamshedpur stayed away for weeks. In some places, the protests were more violent, with bridges blown up, telegraph wires cut, and railway lines taken apart.

Support

Muslim League, the Communist Party of India and the Hindu Mahasabha did not support the movement. The Indian bureaucracy also did not support the movement.

• The Muslim League was not in favour of the British leaving India without partitioning the country first.
• The Communist party supported the British since they were allied with the Soviet Union.
• The Hindu Mahasabha openly opposed the call for the Quit India Movement and boycotted it officially under the apprehension that the movement would create internal disorder and will endanger internal security during the war.

Meanwhile, Subhas Chandra Bose, organised the Indian National Army and the Azad Hind government from outside the country.

As C Rajagopalachari was not in favour of complete independence, he resigned from the INC.

Outcome of the Movement

With no national leader available to guide the popular agitation, the movement spiralled out of control and resulted in violence and rioting. The Quit India movement was violently suppressed by the British – people were shot, lathi-charged, villages burnt and enormous fines imposed. Thousands were killed and injured in the wake of the ‘Quit India’ movement. The British swiftly suppressed many demonstrations by mass detentions; more than 100,000 people were imprisoned.

Most freedom fighters were kept in prison till 1945. Imprisoned in the Aga Khan Palace in Poona along with his wife Kasturba, Gandhi was only released from prison in 1944. It is here that Kasturba ‘Ba’ Gandhi died in 1944. The palace was donated to the Indian people by Aga Khan as a mark of respect to Gandhiji and is now a museum.

The crackdown by the British was also unprecedented in its brutality. Police and soldiers fired indiscriminately at unarmed protesters. Crowds were machine-gunned by military aircraft swooping low over them.

Protesters were picked up from the villages and held hostage by police. Collective fines amounting to lakhs were imposed on entire communities, and the sum was realised immediately through plunder. There was mass whipping of suspects, and village after village was burnt to the ground in punishment for their residents’ actions.

However, though the movement was quelled, it changed the character of the Indian freedom struggle, with the masses rising up to demand as they had never before – the British masters would have to Quit India.

The ‘Quit India’ movement, more than anything, united the Indian people against British rule. Although most demonstrations had been suppressed by 1944, upon his release, in 1944 Gandhi continued his resistance and went on a 21-day fast. By the end of the Second World War, Britain’s place in the world had changed dramatically and the demand for independence could no longer be ignored.

The British refused to grant India total independence for a long time but later they agreed to give independence after the World War II ended. The World War II ended in 1945 and India gained independence in 1947.

Read: Mass Phase of the National Movement (1915-1947) (Gandhian Era)