The Quit India Movement was a movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi on August 8, 1942, during World War II, at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee. This movement demanded the end of British rule in India. Following the failure of the British government to secure Indian support for the war effort through the Cripps Mission, Gandhi delivered his 'Do or Die' speech at the Gwalior Tank Maidan in Bombay on August 8, 1942. Viceroy Linlithgow described this movement as the most serious rebellion since 1857.
The All India Congress Committee decided to launch a large-scale non-cooperation movement across the country. Gandhi demanded the 'withdrawal of British forces from India'. Despite the war, Britain was prepared to take action. Within hours of Gandhi's speech, almost all the leaders of the Indian National Congress were arrested without trial. Most spent the rest of the war in prison, cut off from the public. The British government had the support of the Viceroy's Council, the All India Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha, the princely states, the Indian Imperial Police, the British Indian Army, and the Indian Civil Service. Many Indian businessmen, who were profiting from the huge war expenditure, did not support the Quit India Movement. Significant support also came from America, where President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressured Prime Minister Winston Churchill to concede some Indian demands.
The movement involved boycotting the British government and refusing to cooperate with them. Numerous violent incidents against British rule occurred across the country. The British government arrested thousands of leaders and imprisoned them until 1945. Ultimately, the British government realized that ruling India forever was impossible, and the post-war issue became how to withdraw peacefully and with dignity.
The movement ended with the release of the freedom fighters in 1945. Among the martyrs of this freedom movement were Mukund Kakati, Matangini Hazra, Kanaklata Barua, Kushal Konwar, Bhogeswari Phukanani, and others. In 1992, the Reserve Bank of India issued a commemorative 1-rupee coin to mark the golden jubilee of the Quit India Movement.
World War II and India's Involvement
In 1939, Indian nationalist leaders were angered that the British Governor-General of India, Lord Linlithgow, had dragged India into the war without consulting them.
When the war began, the Congress Party passed a resolution at its Working Committee meeting in Wardha in September 1939, offering conditional support to the fight against the Axis powers, but only on the condition that their demand for independence be granted:
“If the issue is democracy and a world order based on democracy, then India has a deep interest in it. If Great Britain fights to maintain and spread democracy, it must necessarily abolish imperialism in its territories and establish full democracy in India, granting the Indian people the right of self-determination.”
Gandhi did not support this initiative, as he fundamentally disagreed with the very idea of supporting the war (he firmly believed in nonviolent resistance, which had been used in the Indian independence movement, and he supported it against Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo). However, at the height of the British struggle, Gandhi expressed his support for the fight against racism and the British war effort, stating that they did not want to build a free India from the ashes of Britain. However, opinions were divided. Due to the British policy of limiting investment in India and using the country as a market and source of revenue, the Indian army was relatively weak, poorly equipped, and poorly trained, and the British government was forced to contribute to the Indian budget, while taxes were increased dramatically and the cost of living doubled. While some Indian businesses benefited from increased production during the war, businesses generally felt "disrespected" by the government, especially by the British Raj's refusal to give Indians a greater role in organizing and mobilizing the economy for wartime production. Subhas Chandra Bose commented that "the Quit India Movement opened a new chapter in the Indian freedom struggle." After the outbreak of World War II, Bose formed the Indian Legion in Germany, reorganized the Indian National Army with Japanese support, and launched a guerrilla war against the British authorities, seeking assistance from the Axis powers. The Viceroy, Lord Linlithgow, described this movement as "the most serious rebellion since 1857." In a telegram to Winston Churchill on August 31, he wrote:
" Mob violence is common in large areas of the countryside, and I am quite certain that in September we will see a major attempt to disrupt our war effort once again. The lives of Europeans in remote areas are in danger."
When the American Republican presidential candidate Wendell Willkie and YMCA official Sherwood Eddy planned to meet Gandhi, Linlithgow considered it American interference in "our affairs" and asked Churchill to stop them. Indian nationalists knew that the United States supported Indian independence in principle and considered itself an ally. But when Churchill threatened to resign if there was too much pressure, the United States quietly supported him and launched a propaganda campaign against the Indians to boost public support for the war effort. This poorly executed American campaign further alienated the Indians.
The Cripps Mission
In March 1942, amidst growing discontent among Indian soldiers and the general public, and with the war effort in Europe faltering, the British government sent a delegation to India led by Stafford Cripps, the leader of the House of Commons. This mission, known as the Cripps Mission, aimed to secure the full cooperation of the Indian National Congress during the war, in return for transferring and distributing power from the Crown and Viceroy to an elected Indian legislature. The negotiations failed because the Congress's key demands—a timeline for self-government and the specific powers to be transferred—were not addressed.
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