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From the British Library

In 1942 the Indian National Congress launched the Quit India movement. Led by Mahatma Gandhi, it used methods of non-violent resistance to demand freedom from British rule. Historian Sarah Ansari gives an overview of the movement and its influence on the struggle for Indian independence.

The Quit India movement of 1942–44 was the final mass civil disobedience campaign launched by the Indian National Congress against British rule.^[1] Against the backdrop of the Second World War, its objective was to secure a British commitment to immediate full independence (purna swaraj) once the conflict was over, as opposed to the promise of Dominion status. Dominions (such as Australia and Canada) were largely self-governing, but they remained part of the British Empire, with the British monarch as head of state. The movement’s immediate outcome was the arrest of the main Congress leadership, including Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru, as well as thousands of Congress supporters. Most of them remained incarcerated until the end of the war. But in the longer term, the nature of the protest, which involved a greater readiness by some Congress activists to use violence against the colonial state, influenced post-war negotiations over India’s future. The British authorities succeeded in controlling the immediate challenge from Quit India, but the speed with which the British then pursued an ‘exit strategy’ between 1945 and 1947 can be attributed – at least in part – to the fear of a violent end to Empire that the movement generated. Along with the military setbacks experienced by Britain during the war, the Quit India movement irreparably damaged the veneer of invincibility that had previously surrounded the Raj.

Anti-British Poster from 1942
In 1942 an unknown supporter of the Quit India movement created this anti-British propaganda poster. It shows three white soldiers bearing down on peaceful Indian protestors, with the boot of one solider pressing down on one protestor, while the phrase 'British Brute Regiment' is written across a soldier's belt.

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An introduction to the Quit India movement

This is a link to the British Library. This photograph, taken in 1946, shows Sir Stafford Cripps, a British Labour MP who was a member of Prime Minister Churchill’s Cabinet during World War Two. In March 1942 Cripps travelled to India to negotiate with leaders of the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League to secure India’s co-operation and support in World War Two.

The Speech That Brought India to the Brink of Independence
Although the 1942 ‘Quit India’ movement was hardly peaceful, Gandhi’s ‘Do or Die’ address inspired a nation to unify against its British colonizers. Lorraine Boissoneault
August 8, 2017
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with the start of World War II, India was declared to be at war with Germany without any Indian political leaders actually being consulted. The nation would go on to provide 2.3 million soldiers for an army as well as food and other goods to help the Allies defeat the Axis Powers. Much as the Indian National Congress (the largely Hindu public assembly that had some governmental functions) sympathized with defeating fascism, they balked at seeing their country further pillaged for resources.

How did Independence Begin?

Indian Independence Day is a hugely significant national holiday, which marks the seminal moment the nation became independent from the United Kingdom. This was officially declared on 15 August 1947, making this India's 72nd Independence Day. Not only did India become independent on this day, but the country was divided into India and Pakistan.

Although unrest at colonial rule existed long before, the Indian independence movement gained momentum after the First World War. Mahatma Gandhi led the revolt against oppressive British rule and organised passive-resistance campaigns. Although minor concessions were made by the British government, they were not enough. Discontent continued to grow in India, with nationalist leaders such as Gandhi rejecting Britain's empty promises.

In 1942, during the Second World War, The Quit India Movement demanding an end to British rule was launched by the Indian Congress. This led to colonial authorities arresting and jailing hundreds of nationalists, including Ghandi.

Despite these sentences, demonstrations grew after the war. Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was Viceroy in the country, had been given until 1948 to divide the nation, but this date was hastily moved forward. His plan involved division along broadly religious lines - although it is up for debate how successful this was.

In 1947 the Indian National Congress reluctantly accepted the creation of Pakistan and, on August 15, 1947, the Indian Independence Bill took effect. Continue reading from The Independent

Partition of India

The Partitian of India

After the signing of the Independence Bill, it was agreed colonial India would be divided into two separate states - one with a Muslim majority (Pakistan) and the other with a Hindu majority (India).

The two countries celebrate on different days because Lord Mountbatten, had to attend the Pakistan celebration on 14 August and then travel to Delhi for India's first independence day on 15 August.

The partition saw over 14 million people displaced and led to the death of up to two million, creating one of the biggest refugee crises in history and a hostile relationship between the divided nations. Riots and fighting were rife, particularly in the western region of Punjab as it was cut in two by the border. Continue reading from The Independent

Telegram outlining plan to arrest Congress leaders after Quit India resolution, 7 August 1942
This telegram outlines the British Indian government’s plan to arrest leaders of the Indian National Congress, including Gandhi, in order to suppress the ‘Quit India’ movement. This was the government’s reaction to a resolution adopted by the Congress which announced its intention to use mass civil disobedience to fight for full independence from British rule. The telegram was sent on 7 August 1942, the day before Congress actually passed the resolution that in effect launched the Quit India movement.
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Link to transcript for this telegram and it's implications
In this extract from an interview with Kavita Puri, Raj Daswani remembers supporting the Quit India movement as a child and speaks about activist Aruna Asaf Ali.
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In this extract from an interview with Kavita Puri, Raj Daswani remembers supporting the Quit India movement as a child and speaks about activist Aruna Asaf Ali. He recalls the events of 9 August 1942, when he saw her symbolically raise the tricolour nationalist flag at a Congress session at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. This was the day after the Indian National Congress had passed the Quit India Resolution and all of its leaders, including Gandhi and Nehru, were promptly arrested. Daswani recalls that after this Ali went underground to avoid the authorities, and whilst in hiding the 12-year-old Daswani would secretly bring her food that he had obtained from other Congress organisers.
Gandhi The 'Quit India' Speech
{Gandhiji addressed the A.I.C.C. at Bombay on 8-8-42 outlining his plan of action, in Hindustani, as follows;}
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Before you discuss the resolution, let me place before you one or two things, I want you to understand two things very clearly and to consider them from the same point of view from which I am placing them before you. I ask you to consider it from my point of view, because if you approve of it, you will be enjoined to carry out all I say. It will be a great responsibility. There are people who ask me whether I am the same man that I was in 1920, or whether there has been any change in me. You are right in asking that question.

Let me, however, hasten to assure that I am the same Gandhi as I was in 1920. I have not changed in any fundamental respect. I attach the same importance to nonviolence that I did then. If at all, my emphasis on it has grown stronger. There is no real contradiction between the present resolution and my previous writings and utterances.

STATE LIBRARY OF QUEENSLAND

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Shameful Flight : The Last Years of the British Empire in India By Stanley Wolpert
Britain's precipitous and ill-planned disengagement from India in 1947--condemned as a "shameful flight" by Winston Churchill--had a truly catastrophic effect on South Asia, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead in its wake and creating a legacy of chaos, hatred, and war that has lasted over half a century.Ranging from the fall of Singapore in 1942 to the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948, Shameful Flight provides a vivid behind-the-scenes look at Britain's decision to divest itself from the crown jewel of its empire. Stanley Wolpert, a leading authority on Indian history, paints memorable portraits of all the key participants, including Gandhi, Churchill, Attlee, Nehru, and Jinnah, with special focus on British viceroy, Lord Louis Mountbatten.
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Wolpert places the blame for the catastrophe largely on Mountbatten, the flamboyant cousin of the king, who rushed the process of nationhood along at an absurd pace. The viceroy's worst blunder was the impetuous drawing of new border lines through the middle of Punjab and Bengal. Virtually everyone involved advised Mountbatten that to partition those provinces was a calamitous mistake that would unleash uncontrollable violence. Indeed, as Wolpert shows, civil unrest among Muslims, Hindus, and Sikhs escalated as Independence Day approached, and when the new boundary lines were announced, arson, murder, and mayhem erupted. Partition uprooted over ten million people, 500,000 to a million of whom died in the ensuing inferno.Here then is the dramatic story of a truly pivotal moment in the history of India, Pakistan, and Britain, an event that ignited fires of continuing political unrest that still burn in South Asia.
Political Mobilization in the Localities: The 1942 Quit India Movement in Midnapur
Following the adoption of 8 August resolution at Gowalia tank in Bombay, Indian masses rose to revolt, which became famous as the Quit India movement...
CPI and the Quit India Movement
.Prabhat Patnaik's assertion that the Communist Party of India's (CPI) stand on the Quit India Movement was a decision entirely of its leadership is technically..
Defiance and Confrontation: The 1942 Quit India Movement in Midnapur
In 1942 Quit India movement was the last great nationalist campaign in colonial India.
MILITANT REVOLUTIONARY GROUPS IN BHAGALPUR DURING THE QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT
Amar Kant Singh, Manish Kumar
Proceedings of the Indian History Congress, Vol. 62 (2001), pp. 463-469 (7 pages)

Quit India Campaign: Welcome