QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT

With the demise of the civil disobedience movement, Gandhi withdrew from active politics while
the Congress acquired a leftist dimension to it and leaders like Jayaprakash Narayan and Minoo
Masani formed the Congress Socialist Party. The Congress formed ministries in 1937 and in 1939
and the Second World War (which was set the background for the launch of the Quit India
movement) broke out. This brought new variables into Indian politics-
✓ The Congress promised support to the British only if the British would give concession to
two key issues-a post-war independence pledge and a national government at the centre.
However, Lord Linlithgow did not concede and the Congress ministries resigned in protest
in 1939.
✓ Meanwhile, Japanese intervention and rapid Japanese victories brought the war closer to
India in 1941. Now Indian war effort was clearly necessary and there had to be some
solution to the constitutional crisis. This led to the coming of the Cripps’ Mission in March-
April 1942.
✓ The war evoked mixed reactions among the Congress politicians. Gandhi remained
ambivalent. At one point he was anti-war as it went against his principles of non-violence.
At Ramgarh Congress in May 1940, he launched individual Satyagraha by volunteers
personally chosen by Gandhi for this purpose. This involved those giving anti-war
speeches but the movement failed. In 1942, Gandhi was in a surprisingly militant mood.
✓ The impact of the war economically was initially beneficial to some groups. As commodity
prices rose, it was beneficial to industrialists, rich peasants and merchants. It took away the
bad effects of depression and for the peasants, it took away the hardships of high rent.
However, by 1942, there was a severe shortage of rice and the price index of food grains
rose by 60 points in north India. Max Harcourt calls this a scarcity crisis. The poorer
section was hit by a price hike and the richer section was affected by excessive profit tax,
forcible collection of war funds, and coercive sale of war bonds. This created a mentality
of popular panic.
✓ From May onwards, streams of American and Australian soldiers occupied India and
stories of rape and sexual harassment among the civil population spread. Rumours and
axis propaganda led to a widespread belief in India that British power was going to collapse
soon and it was the right time to liberate India from the 200 years of colonial rule. This set
the background to the Quit India Movement

In July 1942 the Congress Working Committee approved the draft resolution on mass civil
disobedience. On 8th August 1942, the Quit India Movement resolution was passed by the AICC
in Bombay. Gandhi delivered his famous Do or Die Bridge arguing that this was the final battle.
According to Gyan Pandey, Gandhi provided the people with a psychological break by saying that
everyone should henceforth be a free man or woman and choose their own course of action if
leaders are arrested. The next morning the top leaders were put behind bars and this was followed
by the August revolution, which involved mass fury – it was spontaneous and the intensity
surprised everyone- it was characterized as a spontaneous revolution as no preconceived plan could
have produced such instantaneous results.

Recent studies on the Quit India movement shows that it was not just an impulsive response of an
unprecedented populace as was claimed by the government. However, the unprecedented scale of

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violence was not premeditated by congress. The Congress leaders before August 9 drafted a 12-
point which included industrial strikes, Gandhian Satyagraha, holding up of railways and
telegraphs, non-payment of taxes and setting up of parallel government.

As the movement progressed AICC continued to send instructions to peasants, which outlined the
course of action in the subsequent months. The issue of non-violence got lesser importance in the
QI Movement. The people accepted the challenge and interpreted it in their own way and congress
had little control over the actions of the masses.

Sumit Sarkar has identified three phases of the Quit India Movement. Initially, it was an urban
movement marked by strikes, boycotts and picketing that were suppressed. In mid-August, the
focus shifted to the countryside, which witnessed a major peasant rebellion marked by the
destruction of communication systems and attacks on Govt. buildings. This brought in severe
repression forcing the movement to go underground. The third phase was characterized by terrorist
activities, which involved sabotaging war efforts by dislocating communication systems and
propaganda activities by using various means. The “terrorists” included youths as well as peasants
and enjoyed popular support. As time passed, underground activities came to channelled into three
streams- a radical group under Jayaprakash Narayan organizing guerilla warfare in the India-Nepal
border, a centrist group by Congress Socialists like Aruna Asaf Ali for sabotage activity, and a
Gandhian group led by Sucheta Kriplani who emphasized non-violent action and constructive
program.

Regional Variations

The movement was most powerful in Bihar where the Kisan Sabha had done a lot of groundwork.
In Jamshedpur, the movement started with a strike of the local constabulary. However, the peasant
strike, which took place the following week in every district of Bihar, was more important. Local
treasuries, railway stations, unarmed European officers were attacked- thus they were destroying
the physical presence of the colonial authority. In Eastern UP, students of BHU arrived and
galvanized local peasantry into action destroying railway tracks and stations. In Bengal, the
movement took place in Calcutta, Hugli, Dinajpur, Purulia, and Birbhum and was the most popular
in Midnapur. In Orissa, it was strongest in Cuttack, Balasore and Puri where Kisan Sangha and
Praja Mandals had mobilized the peasantry. In the Bombay presidency, it took on two distinct
forms-peasant guerilla wars in a few pockets and more violent terrorist sabotage carried on by
educated cadres. Among others in Western India, the Quit India movement was most powerful in
regions of Kheda, Surat and Broach in Gujarat and the princely state of Baroda with labour strikes,
hartals and rioting. In Ahmedabad, a parallel Azad Government was set up. In regions like Madras,
it was fairly moderate. This is because people like Rajagopalachari opposed it and other factors
such as the strength of constitutionalism, absence of socialists, the opposition of Kerala
communists etc.

Social Composition

The Muslims kept away from the movement almost in all regions. The Muslim League did not
approve of the movement. However, they did not actively oppose the Quit India movement-there
was no major incident of communal conflict except maybe in Gujarat. Dr BR Ambedkar, the leader

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of the Dalits did not support it either. But there are instances of Dalit participation in some regions.
The Hindu Mahasabha called it ‘sterile, unmanly and injurious to the Hindu cause and stalwarts
like VD Savarkar whole-heartedly supported the British war efforts. The Communist Party of India
did not support it because of their People’s War Strategy. The British withdrew the ban on CPI
who had begun to preach war efforts to contain fascism. However individual communists did take
part. Thus, there was a limited and short live role of labour in the movement. There was
considerable business participation in Bombay. Middle-class students were at the forefront.
However, a notable aspect is a rise in peasant participation.

By the end of 1942, the British had definitely come out victorious in their immediate total
confrontation with Indian nationalism. The remaining two years of the war passed without any
political confrontation from within the country. However, Sumit Sarkar says that the British were
victorious only because the war conditions had allowed them ruthless use of force. The British
realized that they could not hold onto India by force after the war ended. From the point of view
of the congress leaders, imprisonment and defeat brought certain benefits. Isolation in jail helped
them avoid taking a pro or Japanese war issue especially when Subhash Chandra Bose’s INA
appearance. DD Kosambi said that the glamour of jail and concentration camp served to wipe out
the so-so record of congress ministries in office, thereby restoring the full popularity of the
organization of the masses. The British ultimately came to realize that it was only wise to transfer
power to Indian hands after the Quit India movement. The Congress Right got a new prestige while
the Left was weakened in two ways- brutal repression exhausted many peasant bases built up
through years of constructive work and radical Kisan Sabha activity and the left was now divided
into two camps: that of socialists and followers of Bose on one side and the Communists on the
other.