| Quit India Movement | |||
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 Gandhi discusses the movement with Nehru | |||
| Date | 1942–1945 | ||
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| Parties | |||
| Lead figures | |||
| Casualties and losses | |||
| Part of a series of articles on |
| Indian people |
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| Motto: Jai Hind |
The Quit India Movement was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in India.
After the British failed to secure Indian support for the British war effort with the Cripps Mission, Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay on 8 August 1942 at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. Viceroy Linlithgow described the movement as "by far the most serious rebellion since 1857".[5][6]
The All India Congress Committee launched a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called "An Orderly British Withdrawal" from India. Even though it was at war, Britain was prepared to act. Almost the entire leadership of the Indian National Congress was imprisoned without trial within hours of Gandhi's speech. Most spent the rest of the war in prison and out of contact with the masses. The British had the support of the Viceroy's Council, of 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 profiting from heavy wartime spending did not support the Quit India Movement. The major outside support came from the Americans, as President Franklin D. Roosevelt pressured Prime Minister Winston Churchill to give in to some of the Indian demands.[7]
The movement included boycotting the British government and rejection of transactions involving the government. Various violent incidents took place around the country against the British regime. The British arrested tens of thousands of leaders, keeping them imprisoned until 1945. Ultimately, the British government realised that India was ungovernable in the long run, and the issue for the postwar era became how to exit gracefully and peacefully.[8][9]
The movement ended in 1945 with the release of jailed freedom fighters. Martyrs of this freedom movement include Mukunda Kakati, Matangini Hazra, Kanaklata Barua, Kushal Konwar, Bhogeswari Phukanani and others.[10] In 1992, the Reserve Bank of India issued a 1 rupee commemorative coin to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Quit India Movement.[11]
- ^ a b c Kumar, Raj (2003). Essays on Indian Freedom Movement. History and culture series. Discovery Publishing House. p. 108. ISBN 978-81-7141-705-6.
- ^ Douglas Allen. The Philosophy of Mahatma Gandhi for the Twenty-First Century. Lexington Books. p. 228.
- ^ Green, Jen (2013). Gandhi and the Quit India Movement. Capstone Global Library. p. 38. ISBN 978-1-4062-6909-3.
- ^ a b c Arnold, David (2014). Gandhi. Profiles In Power. Taylor & Francis. p. 194. ISBN 978-1-317-88234-3.
- ^ Panigrahi, Devendra (2004). India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat. Taylor & Francis. p. 403. ISBN 978-1-135-76812-6.
- ^ Rose, Patrick; Jeffreys, A. (2016). The Indian Army, 1939–47: Experience and Development. Taylor & Francis. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-317-02764-5.
- ^ Herman, Arthur (2008). Gandhi & Churchill: The Epic Rivalry that Destroyed an Empire and Forged Our Age. Random House. p. 359. ISBN 978-0-553-90504-5. Archived from the original on 1 January 2016.
- ^ Zachariah, Benjamin (1 March 2011). "Zachariah, 'Gandhi, Non-Violence and Indian Independence'". History Review.
- ^ "Do or Die: The Quit India Movement of 1942". The Nonviolence Project. 19 August 2021. Retrieved 4 February 2024.
- ^ Kanaka Mukhārji. Women's Emancipation Movement in India. National Book Centre. p. 67.
- ^ "1 Rupee Coin of 1992 – Quit India Movement Golden Jubilee". YouTube. March 2017. Archived from the original on 6 April 2017. Retrieved 12 March 2017.