The Quit India Movement

On 8th August, 1942, the Quit India Movement was launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi, demanding an end to British rule in India.After the failure of the Cripps Mission to secure Indian support for the British war effort, the Congress Working Committee meeting held at Wardha on 14 July 1942 passed a resolution demanding Complete Independence from the British Government. The draft proposed massive Civil Disobedience, if the British did not accede to the demands. On 8th August, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. The All India Congress Committee launched a mass protest demanding what Gandhi ji called "An Orderly British Withdrawal" from India. Soon almost the entire leadership of the Indian National Congress was imprisoned without trial within hours of Gandhiji's speech. Despite the arrest of the top nationalist leadership, large protests and demonstrations were held all over the country. Workers remained absent and strikes were called. In Tamluk and Contai subdivisions of Midnapore, the people were successful in establishing parallel governments, which continued to function, until Gandhiji personally requested the leaders to disband in 1944. In Ballia, Uttar Pradesh, people overthrew the district administration, released the arrested Congress leaders and established their own independent rule. In rural Bengal, the Quit India Movement was fueled by peasants' resentment against the new taxes and the forced rice exports. The British Government came down heavily upon the people. It arrested over ten thousand people. The movement was successful in making the British realise that India was ungovernable in the long run and the question for the post-war era became how to exit gracefully and peacefully, leading to India’s independence on 15th August, 1947.