The Quit India Movement was a mass civil disobedience movement launched by the Indian National Congress in August 1942, demanding an immediate end to British colonial rule in India.
Basic Details
- Launched: 8–9 August 1942, following the All India Congress Committee's Bombay session.
- Called by: Mahatma Gandhi and the Indian National Congress.
- Immediate Trigger: The failure of the Cripps Mission (1942) to offer India immediate self-governance, and Britain's continued involvement of India in the Second World War without Indian consent.
- Also Known As: The August Kranti (August Revolution).
Course of the Movement
- AICC Resolution: The AICC passed the "Quit India" resolution at the session held at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay on 8 August 1942, demanding total British withdrawal.
- "Do or Die" Call: Gandhi urged every Indian to "Do or Die" in the final struggle for freedom.
- Mass Arrests: British authorities arrested Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad, and the entire Congress Working Committee within hours, before the movement could be organised under central leadership.
- Leaderless Uprising: With top leadership imprisoned, the movement continued as a spontaneous, decentralised uprising — strikes, sabotage of railway lines and communication networks, and the formation of parallel "underground" governments in areas such as Satara (Maharashtra) and Ballia (Uttar Pradesh).
- Underground Leadership: Leaders such as Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia, and Aruna Asaf Ali went underground to keep the movement alive, including running the clandestine Congress Radio.
Government Response
- Mass Repression: Colonial authorities responded with mass arrests of over 100,000 people, police firing, and collective fines on villages associated with unrest.
- Congress Banned: The Indian National Congress was declared unlawful and its funds confiscated for the duration of the movement.
Significance
- Final Mass Movement: It was the last major all-India mass movement of the freedom struggle, and it demonstrated that British rule could no longer count on the cooperation of the Indian population.
- Path to Independence: Though militarily suppressed within months, it hastened Britain's post-war political calculus, contributing directly to the transfer of power in 1947.
- National Memory: The movement's slogans and leaders remain central reference points in India's nationalist memory, commemorated annually as August Kranti Din.