Quit India Movement

Circumstances leading to the Quit

India Movement
• Failure of the Cripps Mission- The failure of
Cripps Mission made a few things very clear to
the Congress leaders. The Cripps Mission was not
a genuine effort of Britain towards granting even
Dominion Status, when India was demanding
Complete Independence.
• Critical War Stage- It was perhaps the critical
stage of the world War and the Americans were
pressurizing for some reforms to lessen the
national outcry.
• Pampering the Muslim League- It was also transparently
visible that the Muslim League was being pampered with
assurances to foment communal discord and to widen the
Hindu-Muslim divide with the aim to weaken the
nationalist movement, and if ever India was to be left at its
fate, it would be a truncated and chaotic India.
• Churchill's negative attitude- Churchill, Prime Minister of
Britain, had bluntly said "No, Sir" to a question asked in the
Parliament, whether the famous Atlantic Charter, promising
the rights of man-liberty, equality and fraternity to be
enforced throughout the world-will be applicable also to
India. British mind was very clear: How could they leave
India, the largest and wealthiest colony of the empire
conquered with so much arduous skill and cleverness and
ruled with so much prestige and power.
• Danger of Japanese's invasion- There was the growing
threat of Japanese invasion of India. Gandhiji wanted
to save India from that attack and he feared that if the
British lost, Japanese might take their place.
• Racial discrimination- Mahatma Gandhi felt that the
Government followed a discriminatory policy in the
process of evacuation from Burma. The British
provided separate routes for the evacuation of the
Europeans and Indians. The result was Indian evacuees
had to undergo too many hardships on the road called
Black Road for Indians. The White Road was meant for
europeans.
• Changed attitude of Gandhiji- There was also a change
in the attitude of Gandhiji. He was hitherto definitely
opposed to any mass movement during the World War,
but now he again started thinking over it. This was his
novel idea of asking the British to quit. At this time the
advance of Japan towards India was viewed with great
concern. Even then, he wrote in Harijan, "Whatever the
consequences therefore, to India, her real safety, and
Britain's too, lies in orderly and timely British
withdrawal from India." (April 26, 1942). Gandhiji once
more assumed the leadership of the Congress which he
had relinquished during India's negotiations with
Cripps.
 Course of the Movement
• Working towards another round of anti-British protest,
Gandhi, at the July 1942 meeting of the Working
Committee at Wardha, proposed a large-scale and open
non-violent movement against the British.
• The demand of an immediate end of British rule in India
was reiterated in the long resolution of July 14, 1942,
known as the Quit India Movement Resolution.
• The resolution was further ratified by the All India
Congress Committee meeting in Bombay on August 7,
1942.
• On 8 August 1942 the Quit India Resolution, modified by
Nehru, was finally adopted. The non-violent mass struggle
was to start under the leadership of Gandhi.
• The resolution stated the provisions of the movement as:
– An immediate end to British rule over India.
– Declaration of the commitment of free India to defend itself against all
kinds of imperialism and fascism.
– Formation of a provisional government of India after British
withdrawal.
– Sanctioning a civil disobedience movement against British rule.
• Gandhi’s instructions to various sections of the public:
– Government servants: do not resign your job but proclaim loyalty to
the INC.
– Soldiers: be with the army but refrain from firing on compatriots.
– Peasants: pay the agreed-upon rent if the landlords/Zamindars are
anti-government; if they are pro-government, do not pay the rent.
– Students: can leave studies if they are confident enough.
– Princes: support the people and accept the sovereignty of them.
– People of the princely states: support the ruler only if he is anti-
government; declare themselves as part of the Indian nation.
• In this meeting, he gave the famous mantra-The
mantra is: ‘Do or Die’. We shall either free India or die
in the attempt.
• After the termination of the Committee's meeting on
the night of August 8-9, 1942, all the top leaders,
including Gandhi, Nehru and Abul Kalam Azad were
arrested, and within a week almost every prominent
leader was behind the bars.
• The Government banned the All India Congress
Committee and all the Provincial Congress Committees
• The Congress headquarters at Allahabad were seized
and its funds were confiscated by the police.
• After the arrest of the leaders the Quit India
Movement went through three phases.
• First Phase, August 9-13, 1942: Wide scale
disturbances, especially in Bombay, Ahmedabad,
Delhi, and Poona were commonplace in the first
phase.
• From August 11, 1942, the situation worsened.
Apart from hartals, there were concerted spates
of mob violence and of sabotage of various
symbols of British authority, like the
communication network, police and the army.
• This four day period has come to be known as
'the Great August Uprising'.
• Three trends were apparent in the course of
the first phase:
(a) orthodox non-violent Civil Disobedience;
(b) increase in serious crimes; and
(c) inclination towards revolutionary terrorism,
including arson, sabotage, and assassination
of public servants.
• During these four days there were spates of
demonstrations, strikes, processions and
meetings.
• The government control in Patna was almost
lost.
• Many textile mills were closed.
• The Tata Steel Plant closed for the stretch of 13
whole days. The demand of the labourers of the
Tata Steel Plant was that they will not resume
work until à National Government has been
formed.
• Urban middle class participation was rather
prominent in the first phase.
• Second Phase, till end of September 1942: In the
second phase as the militant student leadership fanned
outwards and initiated peasant movements, the
movement extended to the countryside and in centres
like Banares, Cuttak and Patna.
• A unique feature of this phase was the sprouting of a
number of National Governments for varied durations
in many parts of Bengal, the United Provinces and
Bihar.
• The first such parallel government was formed in Ballia
under the leadership of Chittee Pande. While it did not
last very long, it released all the imprisoned Congress
leaders.
• Third Phase-Post September 1942: The movement was
forced to go underground on account of Government
repression.
• The underground organisations sprouted in Bombay,
Poona, Baroda, parts of Kerala, Karnataka and UP.
• The tactics of revolutionararies became more prominent
with frequent attacks on all the symbols of British authority.
• The movement was mainly led by middle- level
Congressmen and Congress Socialists like Achyut
Patwardhan, Ram Manhoar Lohia and Aruna Asaf Ali.
• Jayprakash Narayan was the real leader of the movement.
• The Quit India Movement covered all provinces except for
the Punjab, the North West Frontier Province and the Sind.
• The movement continued till the end of 1943
• In north Bhagalpur, people established a National
Government.
• A parallel administration was set up at Sultanpur by
the Congress workers under the leadership of Siaram
Singh. They even appointed their own darogas.
• Militant nationalists were at the forefront in Bihar and
U.P.
• At Mindapore in Bengal an independent Jatio Sarkar
was set up from December 1942 to September 1944.
Its works included distribution of surplus paddy,
cyclone relief and setting up courts.
• During the course of the movement there was an
underground Radio Station that broadcasted briefly.
• Congress Radio, also known as Azad Radio, was an
underground radio station that operated for about three
months during the Quit India Movement of 1942. Congress
Radio was the broadcasting mouthpiece of the Indian
National Congress and functioned from different locations
in Bombay. It was organized by Usha Mehta.
• The radio station broadcasted from 27 August through 12
November 1942 before being shut down by the authorities,
with the operators being arrested.
• By the time the Quit India Movement
subsided, 250 railway stations were damaged
or destroyed, 550 post offices attacked and 50
burnt, at 3,500 places telephone and
telegraph wires were cut, and 70 police
stations and other Government buildings were
damaged or destroyed.
• The real extent of damage could well be more.
 Conclusion
• While in its end results the Quit India Movement
was a failure but in terms of popular participation
and propaganda it was a success.
• The Quit India Movement stands apart from the
earlier movements in terms of the spirit and
enthusiasm that it infused in ordinary people to
support indigenous institutions and structures of
power. The parallel governments that such efforts
produced indicate the basic difference between
the 1942 movement and the earlier movements.
• Quit India Movement was the most radical and violent of all
the previous mass movements.
• It was supported by the poor and labouring classes, who
were the hardest hit by war time inflation and food
shortages.
• With the Congress ranks weak either due to imprisonment
or lack of funds the people took the Movement in their
hands.
• The Movement brought home the truth to the British
Indian Government that British rule in India would not go
on indefinitely and that after the end of the Second World
War British position in India had to be reassessed. The
demand of Dominion Status was now a thing of the past.
Complete freedom and nothing less than that became the
main aim of the freedom movement.