Quit India Movement (1942-1944) | History Optional for UPSC (Notes) PDF Download

Introduction

• After the departure of Sir Stafford Cripps, Mahatma Gandhi proposed a resolution advocating for the withdrawal of British rule and the initiation of a non-violent non-cooperation movement in response to any potential Japanese invasion.

Resolution for Complete Independence

• During a meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Wardha on July 14, 1942, the idea of a struggle was embraced, and a resolution demanding complete independence from British rule was passed.
• The draft proposed widespread civil disobedience if the British did not comply with the demands.
• The resolution emphasized India’s inalienable right to freedom and independence, advocating for a mass struggle on non-violent lines, utilizing the non-violent strength gathered over the past 22 years of peaceful struggle.
• It underscored that non-violence would be the foundation of the movement.
• However, the resolution sparked controversy within the Congress party.
• Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, a prominent national leader, resigned from the Congress due to this decision, along with some local and regional organizers.
• Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Azad were initially critical and apprehensive but eventually supported Gandhi’s leadership.
• Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and Dr. Anugrah Narayan Sinha enthusiastically backed the disobedience movement, along with veteran Gandhians and socialists like Asoka Mehta and Jayaprakash Narayan.

Reasons for Starting the Struggle:

• The failure of the Cripps Mission to resolve the constitutional deadlock highlighted Britain's unchanged stance on constitutional progress.
• Remaining silent would mean accepting Britain's right to decide India's fate without consulting Indians.
• There was widespread discontent due to rising prices and shortages of essential goods like rice and salt.
• Factors such as the commandeering of boats in Bengal and Orissa contributed to this discontent.
• Fears existed that Britain might implement a scorched earth policy in Assam, Bengal, and Orissa in response to a possible Japanese advance.
• Reports of British setbacks in South-East Asia and the potential collapse of British rule increased public willingness to express discontent.
• Faith in the stability of British rule had diminished, leading people to withdraw their deposits from banks and post offices.
• The British evacuation from South-East Asia damaged white prestige and revealed the racist tendencies of the rulers.
• Leadership aimed to prepare the masses for a potential Japanese invasion.

AICC Meeting—Gowaliar Tank Maidan, Bombay (August 8, 1942):

• The Congress Working Committee had adopted the ‘Quit India’ Resolution on July 14th, 1942, at Wardha. The All India Congress Committee accepted this resolution with some modifications on August 8, 1942, in Bombay.
• The Quit India Resolution was ratified, and the meeting resolved to:
• Demand an immediate end to British rule in India.
• Commit to defending a free India against all forms of Fascism and imperialism.
• Form a provisional Government of India following British withdrawal.
• Sanction a civil disobedience movement against British rule.
• Name Gandhi as the leader of the struggle.
• The British were prepared to act, and the very next day, on August 9, eminent Congress leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Vallabhbhai Patel, Jawaharlal Nehru, and Abul Kalam Azad were arrested, with most spending the rest of the war in prison and out of contact with the masses.

Gandhi's Instructions to Different Groups

At the Gowalia Tank meeting, Gandhi provided general instructions to various sections of society, though they were not officially issued. His guidance included:

Government Servants:

• Advised against resigning but encouraged declaring allegiance to the Congress.

Soldiers:

• Instructed not to leave the Army but to refrain from firing on fellow countrymen.

Students:

• Encouraged students to leave their studies if they felt confident in doing so.

Peasants:

• If the zamindars (landlords) were anti-government, peasants were advised to pay mutually agreed rent.
• If the zamindars were pro-government, peasants were instructed not to pay rent.

Princes:

• Encouraged to support the masses and accept the sovereignty of their people.

People in Princely States:

• Advised to support the ruler only if he was anti-government and to declare themselves as part of the Indian nation.

Gandhi concluded with a powerful exhortation, urging the people with a short mantra: "Do or Die." He emphasized the determination to either free India or die in the attempt, rejecting the idea of living under continued slavery.

Spread of the Movement

Gandhi's Efforts and Government Response:

• Gandhi had built momentum through various civil disobedience movements, reorganizing efforts, and a strong propaganda campaign.
• The Government, however, was not willing to negotiate with the Congress or wait for the movement to officially start.

Arrest of Congress Leaders:

• In the early hours of August 9, all top Congress leaders were arrested and taken to unknown locations.
• The removal of established leaders left the younger, more militant members to take initiative.

Violence Erupts:

• Within hours of the call for action, all national leaders were arrested.
• With no leaders to guide them, the movement turned violent with people burning government offices.
• The British Government responded by deploying the army and arresting over one lakh people.

Aruna Asaf Ali's Role:

• Due to the arrest of major leaders, a young and relatively unknown Aruna Asaf Ali presided over the AICC session on August 9 and hoisted the national flag.
• Subsequently, the Congress party was banned.

Public Sympathy and Protests:

• The actions of the British Government created sympathy for the cause among the public.
• Despite the lack of direct leadership, large protests and demonstrations erupted across the country.
• Workers went on mass absences and strikes were called.
• Not all demonstrations were peaceful; some involved bomb explosions, arson, and disruption of essential services.

Public Rampage:

• The public attacked symbols of authority, hoisting national flags on public buildings.
• Satyagrahis willingly offered themselves for arrest, and acts of sabotage like blowing up bridges and cutting telegraph lines were common.
• This activity was particularly intense in eastern UP and Bihar.
• Students and workers across various regions participated in strikes and protests.
• In Saurashtra, the region’s baharvatiya tradition supported sabotage activities.
• In rural West Bengal, peasant resentment against war taxes and forced rice exports fueled the movement until the famine of 1943.

Underground Activities During the Quit India Movement:

• Participants: Underground activities were carried out by various groups and individuals, including Socialists, Forward Bloc members, Gandhi ashramites, revolutionary terrorists, and local organizations in cities like Bombay, Poona, Satara, Baroda, and regions such as Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Delhi.
• Key Figures: Prominent figures involved in underground activities included Rammanohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Sharma, Biju Patnaik, Chhotubhai Puranik, Achyut Patwardhan, Sucheta Kripalani, and R.P. Goenka.
• Usha Sharma's Contribution: Usha Sharma played a significant role by starting an underground radio in Bombay. This phase of underground activity aimed to maintain popular morale and provide guidance for distributing arms and ammunition.
• Congress Radio: The Congress Radio was a clandestine underground radio station that operated for about three months during the Quit India Movement. It was organized by Usha Mehta with the help of ham radio operators and functioned from different locations in Bombay. The radio station was supported by technicians and equipment supplied by Nanak Motawani of Chicago Radio, Mumbai. Notable personalities like Ram Manohar Lohia and Achyutrao Patwardhan were also associated with Congress Radio.

Parallel Governments: Parallel governments were established in various places during the Quit India Movement:

• Ballia: In August 1942 for a week under Chittu Pandey, who facilitated the release of many Congress leaders.
• Tamluk: In Midnapore from December 1942 to September 1944, involved in cyclone relief work, school grants, paddy distribution, and organizing Bidyut Bahinis.
• Satara: From mid-1943 to 1945, known as "Prati Sarkar," led by figures like Y.B. Chavan and Nana Patil, focusing on village libraries, Nyayadan Mandals, prohibition campaigns, and 'Gandhi marriages.'

Extent of Mass Participation and Support

• Main storm centres of the movement were eastern UP, Bihar, Midnapore, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.
• Active help was provided by businessmen(through donations, shelter, and material help despite some businessmen profiting from wartime spending),students(acting as couriers),villagers(refusing to give information to authorities),pilots and train drivers(delivering bombs and other materials), and government officials(including police, passing on secret information to activists).
• Students, workers, and peasants were the backbone of the movement, while the upper class and bureaucracy remained largely loyal.
• Youth, especially students from schools and colleges, played a prominent role, although many were more influenced by Subhas Chandra Bose, who was in exile supporting the Axis powers.
• Women, particularly school and college girls, actively participated, including figures like Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kripalani, and Usha Mehta.
• Workers went on strikes and faced repression.
• Peasants from all strata were central to the movement, with even some zamindars participating. Their actions targeted symbols of authority without anti-zamindar violence.
• Government officials, particularly from lower levels of police and administration, eroded governmental loyalty by participating in the movement, reflecting the deep reach of nationalism.
• Muslims provided shelter to underground activists, and there were no communal clashes during the movement.
• Communists, despite their anti-war stance, felt the pull of the movement, while princely states responded in a low-key manner.
• The only external support came from the Americans, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressured Prime Minister Winston Churchill to concede to Indian demands.
• The common people displayed unmatched heroism and militancy in the face of brutal repression and adverse circumstances.
• The movement demonstrated that it was no longer possible to rule India without the consent of Indians.

Opposition to Quit India:

• The Congress struggled to unite other political forces under a single banner and program.
• Smaller parties like the Hindu Mahasabha opposed the Quit India call.
• The Communist Party of India strongly opposed the Quit India movement, supporting the war effort to assist the Soviet Union, even though many industrial workers supported Quit India. In response, the British lifted the ban on the party.
• The movement faced limited support in the princely states, where the princes were strongly opposed and funded the opposition.
• Muslim leaders, including Muhammad Ali Jinnah, opposed Quit India, leading many Muslims to cooperate with the British and enlist in the army. The Muslim League gained many new members, and Congress members resigned from provincial legislatures, allowing the League to gain control in Sindh, Bengal, and Northwest Frontier.
• On March 23, 1943, Pakistan Day was observed.
• The nationalists had very little international support. While the United States supported Indian independence in principle, it quietly backed Churchill after he threatened to resign. The U.S. bombarded Indians with propaganda to strengthen public support for the war effort, a poorly run operation that annoyed both the British and the Indians.

Government Repression:

• Although martial law was not applied, the repression was severe. Agitating crowds were lathi charged, tear-gassed, and fired upon. The number of those killed is estimated at 10,000.
• The press was muzzled. The military took over many cities; police and secret service reigned supreme. Rebellious villages were fined heavily, and in many villages, mass flogging was done.

Estimate:

• The masses were left without any guidance after the arrest of all top leadership on 9th August.
• Ratification of the Quit India Movement Resolution marked a significant turning point.
• Gandhi’s ‘do or die’ call for the people created an upheaval in the country.
• This movement ruined the atmosphere of non-violence in the country.
• Unlike the Non-Co-Operation and Civil Disobedience Movements, the Quit India Movement captures the quintessence of a ‘spontaneous’ rising by the people.
• The element of spontaneity was higher than before.
• A certain degree of popular initiative had been sanctioned by the leadership itself.
• The Congress had been ideologically, politically, and organisationally preparing for the struggle for a long time.
• The great significance of the movement was that it placed the demand for independence on the immediate agenda of the national movement.
• After Quit India, there could be no retreat.

Gandhi's 21-Day Fast in February 1943:

• Gandhi was imprisoned in Pune at the Aga Khan Palace.
• Despite the deaths of his wife Kasturbai Gandhi and his personal secretary Mahadev Desai, and his declining health, Gandhi undertook a 21-day fast to continue resisting British rule.
• He began the fast in response to the British Government's call for him to condemn violence, directing his protest against state violence.
• The news of his fast sparked an immediate and overwhelming response, with protests organized both in India and abroad through hartals, demonstrations, and strikes.
• Three members of the Viceroy's executive council resigned in protest.
• Gandhi's fast was a powerful statement against his opponents, as he refused to give in or die.
• The fast accomplished several goals:
• It boosted public morale.
• It intensified anti-British sentiment.
• It provided an opportunity for political action.
• It exposed the government's harshness.
• Although the British released Gandhi in 1944 due to his health, he continued to demand the release of the Congress leadership.
• By early 1944, India was largely peaceful again, but the Congress leadership remained imprisoned. This period saw a sense of failure among many nationalists, while figures like Jinnah and the Muslim League, along with Congress opponents like the Communists, attempted to gain political advantage by criticizing Gandhi and the Congress Party.

Gandhi's Support for Violent Resistance in the Quit India Movement:

• In 1942, before the Quit India resolution, Gandhi shifted from his usual stance against violence.
• He believed that, under certain conditions, violence could serve the national cause, even though he preferred non-violent methods.
• Gandhi had always maintained that violence was acceptable in cases of immediate self-defense, such as against murderers and rapists.
• By 1942, he extended this belief to include violent resistance against British rule as a form of instinctual self-defense against criminal acts.
• While Gandhi still encouraged participants in the struggle to use non-violent tactics, he refrained from condemning those who chose to take up arms.
• He anticipated that violence might erupt during the movement.
• In a 1942 interview, Gandhi suggested that mass struggle against exploiters could remain non-violent, but acknowledged the possibility of violence.
•  For example, he mentioned that peasants might stop paying taxes and potentially seize land, indicating that violence could be a part of the struggle. 
•  Gandhi's nuanced perspective in 1942 reflected a complex understanding of the struggle against British rule, where he balanced his preference for non-violence with the recognition of the realities of violent resistance.