Recalling ‘Quit India’

Context:

On August 8, 1942 — the people of India launched the decisive final phase of the struggle for independence. It was a mass upsurge against colonial rule on a scale not seen earlier, and it sent out the unmistakable message that the sun was about to set on the British Empire in India.

Relevance:

GS I- Modern History

Dimensions of the Article:

1. Build-up to August 1942
2. Extent of Mass Participation
3. Brutal suppression of protests

Build-up to August 1942

• While factors leading to such a movement had been building up, matters came to a head with the failure of the Cripps Mission.
• With World War II raging, the beleaguered British government needed the cooperation of its colonial subjects.
• With this in mind, in March 1942, a mission led by Sir Stafford Cripps arrived in India to meet leaders of the Congress and the Muslim League.
• The idea was to secure India’s whole-hearted support in the war, and the return offer to Indians was the promise of self-governance.
• But things did not go that way. Despite the promise of “the earliest possible realisation of self-government in India”, Cripps only offered dominion status, not freedom. Also, there was a provision for the partition of India, which was not acceptable to the Congress.
• The failure of the Cripps Mission made Gandhi realise that freedom would come only if Indians fought tooth and nail for it.
• The Congress was initially reluctant to launch a movement that could hamper Britain’s efforts to defeat the fascist forces.
• But it eventually decided on mass civil disobedience. At the Working Committee meeting in Wardha in July 1942, it was decided the time had come for the movement to move into an active phase.
• Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech, followed by the launch of a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called “An Orderly British Withdrawal” from India.
• Almost the entire leadership of the Indian National Congress was imprisoned without trial within hours of Gandhi’s speech.

The slogan ‘Quit India’

• While Gandhi gave the clarion call of Quit India, the slogan was coined by Yusuf Meherally, a socialist and trade unionist who also served as Mayor of Bombay.
• A few years ago, in 1928, it was Meherally who had coined the slogan “Simon Go Back”.

Extent of Mass Participation

• The participation was on many levels.
• Youth, especially the students of schools and colleges, remained in the forefront.
• Women, especially school and college girls, actively participated, and included Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kripalani and Usha Mehta.
• Workers went on strikes and faced repression.
• Peasants of all strata were at the heart of the movement. Even some zamindars participated. These peasants concentrated their offensive on symbols of authority and there was complete absence of anti-zamindar violence.
• Government officials, especially those belonging to lower levels in police and administration, participated resulting in erosion of government loyalty.
• Muslims helped by giving shelter to underground activists. There were no communal clashes during the movement.
• The Communists did not join the movement; in the wake of Russia (where the communists were in power) being attacked by Nazi Germany, the communists began to support the British war against Germany and the ‘Imperialist War’ became the ‘People’s War’
• The Muslim League opposed the movement, fearing that if the British left India at that time, the minorities would be oppressed by the Hindus.
• The Hindu Mahasabha boycotted the movement.
• The Princely states showed a low-key response.

Lack of Unity

• The British had the support of the Viceroy’s Council (which had a majority of Indians), of the All India Muslim League, the princely states, the Indian Imperial Police, the British Indian Army, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Indian Civil Service.
• Many Indian businessmen profiting from heavy wartime spending did NOT support the Quit India Movement.

Brutal suppression of protests

• The Quit India movement was violently suppressed by the British — people were shot and lathicharged, villages were burnt, and backbreaking fines were imposed.
• In the five months up to December 1942, an estimated 60,000 people had been thrown into jail.
• However, though the movement was quelled, it changed the character of the Indian freedom struggle, with the masses rising up to demand with a passion and intensity like never before: that the British masters would have to Quit India.

-Source: Indian Express