Quit India Day

Mahatma Gandhi confers with leaders of the All India Congress Committee, including Acharya Kripalani,
Abdul Gaffar Khan, Sarojini Naidu and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, in August 1942.
Source: Museviews

The Indian independence struggle had picked up momentum throughout the country since the
launch of mass protests such as the Non-Cooperation and Civil Disobedience movements. The
Indian National Congress (INC) had the entire nation rallying behind its push for complete
independence from British rule. However, the British refused to give up their colonial rule in
India. When the Second World War broke out in 1939, the British announced India’s
participation in the war without consulting Indian leaders and enlisted 25 lakh Indian soldiers
to fight in the war against fascism.

The INC offered to support the British war effort only on the condition of complete
independence for India. The British refused such demands initially. However, as Japanese
troops began approaching Indian borders in 1942, the British were forced to reconsider their
position. In March 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps, a member of the War Cabinet, was sent to India.
In its draft declaration, the Cripps Mission proposed to grant India only a dominion status under
the British Empire after the war. However, this was not acceptable to our freedom fighters,
who saw that the British were not ready to grant India any real, constitutional power. Mahatma
Gandhi called the draft declaration “a post-dated cheque on a failing bank”. The Congress
Working Committee rejected the draft declaration completely and declared the Cripps Mission
a failure.

On 14th July 1942, the Congress Working Committee met at Wardha and drew up a resolution,
popularly known as the ‘Quit India’ resolution. The resolution called for Britain’s complete

Prepared by Publications Subcommittee for the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence,

Indian National Congress
 Quit India Day

and voluntary withdrawal from India, failing which it called for massive civil disobedience.
The resolution was approved in the Bombay Session of the INC on 8th August.

The Quit India movement was launched on 9th August 1942. Mahatma Gandhi delivered his
historic “Do or Die” speech at Mumbai’s Gowalia Tank Maidan, where he called for a pan-
India movement for independence. His speech openly challenged Britain’s authority to govern
India. Within a few hours of his speech, the top leaders of the INC, including Mahatma Gandhi
himself, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Abul Kalam Azad, were arrested without
trial under the Defence of India Act. After the arrest of these leaders, the leadership of the INC
was taken up by Aruna Asaf Ali, who hoisted the national flag against the British. The INC
itself was declared unlawful, its offices all over the country were raided and its funds were
taken away.

However, the arrest of the major nationalist leaders sparked a nationwide demonstration.
Millworkers in Bombay, Jamshedpur, Ahmedabad, and other cities and towns held strikes for
months, and students boycotted schools and colleges throughout India. The British responded
brutally, arresting over one lakh people and publicly flogging protesters. The police often
resorted to lathi charges and shootings, and hundreds of people were killed. The movement
soon shifted out of cities and into the countryside, where government properties became a
target. Railway lines were sabotaged, communication lines were cut off, and public transport
was vandalised.

Police fire tear gas in an attempt to force protesters to disperse during a Quit India movement protest rally.
Source: The Hindu

However, not all Indians participated in the Quit India protests. The Hindu Mahasabha and the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh boycotted the Quit India movement. They actively aided the
British in suppressing any opposition to the British government. Meanwhile, the Muslim
League under Muhammad Ali Jinnah used the power vacuum created by the arrest of Congress
leaders to push for the partition of India. By the time the Congress leadership was released, the

Prepared by Publications Subcommittee for the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence,

Indian National Congress
 Quit India Day

political landscape had shifted. The British sent the Cabinet Mission in 1946 to create plans for
the transfer of power and held elections to the provincial assemblies, which the Congress won.
However, the British also accepted Jinnah’s demand for the communal partition of India,
setting the stage for savage communal violence post-Independence.

The Quit India Movement forcefully drove home the point that Indians will not accept anything
less than complete freedom from British colonial rule. The British realised that they could no
longer ignore the nationalist yearning for India’s independence and they were forced to make
plans to withdraw from the country.

August 2022

Prepared by Publications Subcommittee for the 75th Anniversary of Indian Independence,

Indian National Congress