QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT
About
● It was a very intense and violent nationwide resistance against the British Raj which started on 8th August 1942, on the legendary call of “Do or Die” by Mahatma Gandhi from Bombay’s Gowalia Tank Maidan.
● Also known as “August Kranti”, it proved to be a turning point in the Indian Freedom Struggle.
Reasons:
● The British unilaterally dragged India into World War II without taking the Indian Leadership into confidence.
● Economic hardships faced by Indian masses due to the war.
● Reverses faced by the British from the Japanese forces in South East Asia and the war escalating upto the Indian borders at Burma.
● Rising national sentiments and the demand of complete independence by the Indian National Congress.
Immediate Cause:
● Failure of Cripps Mission (March 1942): It failed to pacify the Congress Leadership by offering a post-war dominion status.
● Gandhi termed it a “post-dated cheque on a crashing bank.”
Series of Events:
● On July 14, 1942, the Congress Working Committee met at Wardha and decided to launch a mass civil disobedience movement under the leadership of Gandhi.
● An All India Congress Committee meeting was called at Bombay where on 8th August 1942 the Congress passed the “Quit India Resolution”.
Government Response:
● On the 8th and 9th of August 1942, the government arrested all the prominent leaders of Congress and it was declared an illegal organisation.
● Mahatma Gandhi was imprisoned in Aga Khan Palace, Poona.
● Nehru, Patel, Abul Kalam Azad, and many other leaders were imprisoned in the Ahmednagar Fort.
Public Response:
● The immediate arrest of all big Congress leaders made it a Leaderless Movement.
● Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Triclour at Bombay's Gowalia Tank Maidan on 9th August, 1942.
● Usha Mehta ran an underground radio station also called the Secret Congress Radio.
● The movement spread across the country, especially in rural areas. Protests, strikes, and uprisings took place in various regions and it turned violent at many places.
● Revolutionary activities were widespread along with attacks on government buildings and machinery.
● Jaiprakash Nararayan escaped from Hazaribagh jail and formed “Azad Dasta”, a revolutionary organisation at the Bihar-Nepal Border. Ram Manohar Lohia also ran an underground radio for this organisation during the movement.
Brutal Suppression:
● The British resorted to all sorts of measures with means available at their end including mass fines, flogging at public events, arrest, detention, martial laws, public firing and thus curbed the movement with a heavy hand, though underground activities continued.
Limitations:
● Chaotic and sporadic in nature: Due to the absence of central leadership, a nationwide coordination was missing.
● Failed to achieve its immediate objective: Independence ultimately came much later in 1947 under different circumstances along with partition.
● Absence of a united political front: Muslim League, Communist Party of India, Hindu Mahasabha along with B. R. Ambedkar and Periyar were against the Movement.
● Communal divide: Muslim participation in the movement was even lower than the CDM. Jinnah appealed to Muslims to join the armed forces.
Achievements:
● Loss of British Morality: The use of brutal might on the general public at such a large scale lead to the Loss of British Moral Right to rule India anymore.
● Fear in British Aristocracy: It convinced the British Authority that India cannot be ruled further on colonial norms.
Do You Know?
The term ‘Quit India’ was termed by Yusuf Meherally, who also coined the term 'Simon Go-Back'.