In this article, we discuss the Quit India Movement of 1942.
Quit India Movement is also known as August Kranti. At that time the situation was such that Indians could not expect anything from the British Government.
On the other hand, India was under threat of Japanese attack. If Japan attacked India, then along with the British Government, the people of India would also suffer.
Japan had only one purpose to attack India that Japan and Britain were about to fight against each other.
The condition of the Indian economy was very bad during World War II. The prices of things had gone up a lot. That means Britain was fighting in World War II but it was having a very bad effect on India.
Gandhiji understood that if India has to avoid the attack of the Japanese and save the economy, then the British government will have to be driven out of India immediately.
In July 1942, a meeting of the Congress was held in Wardha, Maharashtra where a resolution was passed which is also known as the Wardha Resolution or Quit India Resolution.
According to this resolution, Congress was again going to conduct a mass movement under the leadership of Gandhiji.
But some people of Congress were not in favor of starting this movement. C Rajagopalachari resigned from Congress while opposing the Quit India Movement.
He believed that the British government was busy in war and at such a time to launch a mass movement means that their war efforts would have to be reduced.
If Britain loses, then India will be conquered by Japan or Germany and that was not going to be of any use.
On 9 August 1942, Gandhiji called a meeting at the Gowalia Tank in Bombay. Gowalia Tank is also known as August Kranti Maidan. Thousands of people gathered here.
It was here that Gandhiji officially launched the Quit India Movement and gave the slogan Do Aur Die.
Gandhiji had said that this time I will not make any negotiations with the Viceroy, because he wanted complete independence.
Gandhiji said that people doing government jobs should not leave their jobs, but should support Congress openly while in the job.
The people working in the British military were also told not to leave their jobs and not to obey any such orders where they had to attack their own people.
Gandhiji asked the pageant to refuse to pay the land revenue.
Gandhiji also said that if Congress could not reach the instructions to the people, then people should take the decision on their own as to what to do today.
A few hours later, the top Congress leaders were put in jail by the police. Gandhiji was placed under house arrest in the Aga Khan Palace. The press was also banned.
In the first few weeks of the movement, many people joined the movement and there was a lot of violence. People also attacked many police stations.
The British flags of many government places were removed and the Indian flags were installed. Every effort was made to disconnect the British communication system.
Railway tracks were uprooted and bridges were demolished at many places. Children left school and started distributing indigenous magazines and articles.
After this, Parallel Government was established in many places. But after some time the British government pacified the entire movement under 2 to 4 weeks. By December 1942, about 1 lakh people had been imprisoned.
Seeing this, the Indian leaders went silent and the underground network started to form.
Ram Manohar Lohia, Biju Patnaik, Aruna Asif Ali, Jayaprakash Narayan, Achyut Patwardhan, and Sucheta Kriplani were to name a few leaders who run the underground network.
Big businessmen of the country were also supporting these leaders.
The most important activity here was the Congress radio broadcast. It was run by Usha Mehta. He was helped by Nanka Motwani, the owner of Chicago Radio of America, in establishing the underground network.
This broadcast was being done from different places in Bombay City. From here the leaders used to reach their speeches to the people of the country.
By November 1942, the British government had traced these radio stations.
After this Gandhiji started a 21-day fast from the jail itself because the British government was forcing him to condense the violence spread in the country.
But Gandhiji refused to do so and blamed the British government for it. Gandhiji's health was already bad, so many people surrounded the Aga Khan Palace.
Leave Gandhiji, such letters in lakhs started coming to the government. Due to this demand, 3 members of the Viceroy's Executive Council also resigned and their name was M S Aney, N R Sarkar, and H P Modi.
Gandhiji's health got worse now and on 6 May 1944, Gandhiji was released from jail for treatment.
Some parties of India like the Communist Party of India, Muslim League, and some parties were not supporting Quit India Movement.
After a few days, the Quit India movement slowed down. The Quit India Movement may have failed but it had prepared the people of India for independence.
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