Quit India Movement

The quit India movement was a movement against the British to leave
India and and set us free. It was launched by Mahatama Gandhi on 8th
august, 1942. This movement united a lot of people against the british
rule. The movement was the reason because of which india gained
independene. This movement filled enthusiast with the masses. And
now people wanted to be free from any kind of rule. The quit india
movement started with a lot of violence because great leaders like
mahatama Gandhi and others who supported the movement got
arrested as the british saw people getting attracted towards this
movement. The british anyhow wanted to suppress this movement.
Violence rose in such a way that people started destroying whatever
they saw as a sign of the British authority may it be a railway station or
post office or any other thing that symbolized the British. The
movement was a fight between the nationalists and the british state.
This movement emerged to be a turning point as the fear of the british
within the people got vanished.

The emergence of this movement was because of two reasons:-

1.Japanese invasion

The first one was the threat of Japanese invasion. Japan was engaged in
a fight with the British in the World War 2 so everybody feared that the
British may invade India to fight the british. Gandhi spoke at a congress
meeting that for avoiding such kind of circumstances they had to throw
the british out of india as soon as possible but by the process of non-
violence.

2. Failure of the Cripps mission

Secondly, the cause of the quit India movement was to oppose the
mission that Stafford Cripps (Cripps mission) brought to India. Stafford
Cripps came to India by the means of resolving the issue and he
mentioned that India would be granted dominion status after the
culmination of the World War 2. And they would organize elections to
form the constituent assembly. The congress was not at all happy with
this decision because it didn’t mention sudden transfer of power and
they did not grant the opportunity to the provinces the right to opt. this
is the reason because of which the movement emerged.

The response of the government on the quit India movement

As the British government observed that the masses were seeking

attention towards the quit India movement, the British government
took immediate actions towards it. Gandhi, Nehru and several other
leaders of the Indian national congress were arrested by the British
government under the defence of India rules. The working committee,
the all India congress committee and other four provincial congress
committee were declared unlawful associations under the criminal law
amendment act of 1908. The assembly of public meetings were
prohibited under rule 56 of the defence of Indian rules. The arrest of
Gandhi, Nehru and other congress leader led to a mass demonstration
throughout India. During this demonstration thousands of people were
killed and injured many places were called off for strike. The British
swiftly suppressed many of these demonstrations by mass detention;
more than 100,000 people were imprisoned. But this did not stop the
masses. This movement brought change in the masses as the people
got united and kept the thought of vanquishing the British.
Three stages of this movement:-

First stage

The first phase lasted for about three to four days after the arrest of
mahatama Gandhi. This phase was the phase of strikes, processions,
demonstration as Gandhi wanted the movement to go on peacefully.
He warned the masses of the forthcoming problems and also wanted
them to deal with this problem in a non-violent manner.

Second stage

The second phase came up with the emergence of new leaders and
their aggression was also a part of the phase. They set ablaze the police
stations, post offices, and railway station as they saw them as a symbol
of the British. They were ready to capture the court buildings and raid
the municipal and government buildings.

Third stage

The third phase was the time which saw the attacks on the police of
Madhya Pradesh, Bombay and Uttar Pradesh. Mobs bombed the police
officials but later on the movement continued peacefully, though they
could not get success but still they left a huge impact on the British
rule. This phase saw violence as the British adopted a harsh violence
policy to stop this protest. This movement gained its peaceful
importance and was extended till the release of mahatama Gandhi. This
phase saw violence as the British adopted a harsh violence policy to
stop this protest.

Question of violence in the movement

Britain announced the entry of India with nothing from the Indian side.
Congress officials resigned from their posts because of protests and
Mahatma Gandhi laid the ground work for a pro independence
movement. Gandhi shifted away from his long standing condemnation
of violence. Gandhi argued that under certain conditions the use of
violence would not injure the national cause. Gandhi had always told
that violence was acceptable to be used as self defense towards the
murderers and rapists and he decided that the violent resistance to
British rule could fit under this category of self defense. He expected
violence to break out, while almost pushing the idea that mass struggle
against exploiters would remain non violent .

Due to the arrest of major leaders, the general public came into action.
Satyagrahis offered themselves to arrest, brides were blown up, railway
tracks were removed, telegraph lines were cut.

Masses almost destroyed all the British owned properties such as the
post offices, railway stations, government building were mobbeb.

Social base of the movement and the regions to which it spread

At the all India congress committee mahatma Gandhi launched this

movement.

(1) People from different occupational fields such as peasants, students

and lower middle class and the women also came out of their
thresholds of their home and raise voice against the British rule.
(2)There was a sense of responsibility and dedication towards one’s
own country that led them to organize and fight for achieving the goal.
The participation of these masses laid the base to start this courageous
movement.

(3) Government officials , especially those belonging to the lower level

in police and administration participated resulting in erosion of
government.

(4) Muslims helped by giving shelter to underground activitists. There

were no communal clashes during the movement.

(5) Princely states showed response on a very low note.

REGIONAL SPREAD:

This movement spread on to a various extent almost to all the states

and provinces across the country. This movement spread to places like
Balia, satara, Talcher, and midnapur as these where the places that first
saw the early rise of the movement also violence took place in these
places which marked the beginning of the quit India movement.

Main places of these movements were-:

1. Eastern UP

2. Bihar

3. Midnapore

4. Maharashtra

5. Karnataka
Failure of the quit India movement

1.The communist party of India strongly opposed the quit India

movement.

2. Muslim leaders opposed the quit India movement. Muhammad ali

jinnah’s opposition to the call led to a large numbers of muslims
cooperating with the British. The muslim league gained large numbers
or new members.

3. Small parties like Hindu mahasabha opposed the call.

Significance of the movement

According to me the quit India movement gained its significance as

during this movement the British thought that they could not govern
the country now now and they have to leave the country in a peaceful
manner. They started thinking about ways of leaving this country as
they somewhere knew that it is not possible for them to govern India
anymore. This movement kept the congress party united at the
challenging times. People were also vigorously supporting each other
because they have had dreamt of a free India. Though quit India
movement was not successful to that extent as viewed in achieving
independence, but it had some advantages:

(1)The movement reached a height of success in some places which

were satara, talcher and midnapur.

(2)In Badriya there was a complete successful revolt as British decide to

leave the place.

(3)This movement made a new achievement in participation of people;

maybe it could also be because of the name quit India movement as
participation was seen at a higher level in this movement than any
other movement.

The importance of this movement as I feel was that it placed the

demand for independence on the immediate agenda of the national
movement. After the quit India there could be no retreat. Any future
negotiations with the British government could only be on the grounds
of transfer of power. Independence was no longer a matter of bargain.
And this implied clearly after the war.

TEJAS ROY

SKP162E0292

BA (HNRS) SSH