On August 9, 81 years ago — on August 9, 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.
Mahatma Gandhi, who had told the Raj to “Quit India” on the previous day (August 8) was already in jail along with the entire Congress leadership, so when August 9 dawned, the people were on their own — out on the street, driven by the Mahatma’s call of “Do or Die”.
This truly people-led movement was eventually crushed violently by the British, but by then it was clear that nothing short of their final departure was acceptable to India’s masses.
After the British failed to secure Indian support for the British war effort with Cripps Mission, Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India movement delivered in Bombay on 9 August 1942 at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. Viceroy Linlithgow remarked the movement to be “by far the most serious rebellion since 1857”.
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, the British were 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.
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 realized that India was ungovernable in the long run, and the question for the postwar era became how to exit gracefully and peacefully.
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.In 1992, the Reserve Bank of India issued a 1 rupee commemorative coin to mark the Golden Jubilee of the Quit India Movement.
World War II and Indian involvement
In 1939, Indian nationalists were angry that British Governor-General of India, Lord Linlithgow, brought India into the war without consultation with them. The Muslim League supported the war, but Congress was divided. At the outbreak of war, the Congress Party had passed a resolution during the Wardha meeting of the working-committee in September 1939, conditionally supporting the fight against the Axis, but were rebuffed when they asked for independence in return.
If the war is to defend the status quo of imperialist possessions and colonies, of vested interest and privilege, then India can have nothing to do with it. If, however, the issue is democracy and world order based on democracy, then India is intensely interested in it… If Great Britain fights for the maintenance and expansion of democracy, then she must necessarily end imperialism in her possessions and establish full democracy in India, and the Indian people have the right to self-determination… A free democratic India will gladly associate herself with other free nations for mutual defense against aggression and for economic co-operation.
Gandhi had not supported this initiative, as he could not reconcile an endorsement for war (he was a committed believer in non-violent resistance, used in the Indian Independence Movement and proposed even against Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo). However, at the height of the Battle of Britain, Gandhi had stated his support for the fight against racism and of the British war effort, stating he did not seek to raise an independent India from the ashes of Britain. However, opinions remained divided. The long-term British policy of limiting investment in India and using the country as a market and source of revenue had left the Indian Army relatively weak and poorly armed and trained and forced the British to become net contributors to India’s budget, while taxes were sharply increased and the general level of prices doubled: although many Indian businesses benefited from increased war production, in general business “felt rebuffed by the government” and in particular the refusal of the British Raj to give Indians a greater role in organizing and mobilizing the economy for wartime production.
Subash Chandra Bose remarked that a “new chapter in Indian freedom struggle began with the Quit India Movement”. After the onset of the world war, Bose had organized the Indian Legion in Germany, reorganized the Indian National Army with Japanese assistance, and soliciting help from the Axis Powers, conducted a guerrilla war against the British authorities.
Resolution for immediate independence
The Congress Working Committee meeting at Wardha (14 July 1942) adopted a resolution demanding complete independence from the British government. The draft proposed massive civil disobedience if the British did not accede to the demands. It was passed at Bombay.
However, it proved to be controversial within the party. A prominent Congress national leader, Chakravarti Rajgopalachari, quit the Congress over this decision, and so did some local and regional level organizers. Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Azad were apprehensive and critical of the call, but backed it and stuck with Gandhi’s leadership until the end. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad and Anugrah Narayan Sinha openly and enthusiastically supported such a disobedience movement, as did many veteran Gandhians and socialists like Asoka Mehta and Jayaprakash Narayan.
Allama Mashriqi (head of the Khaksar Tehrik) was called by Jawaharlal Nehru to join the Quit India Movement. Mashriqi was apprehensive of its outcome and did not agree with the Congress Working Committee’s resolution. On 28 July 1942, Allama Mashriqi sent the following telegram to Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan, Mohandas Gandhi, C. Rajagopalachari, Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajendra Prasad and Pattabhi Sitaramayya. He also sent a copy to Bulusu Sambamurti (former Speaker of the Madras Assembly).
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India to participate in Jeddah summit on Ukraine peace plan
India will participate in a conclave in Saudi Arabia involving major countries from the West and the Global South to consider talks to bring about peace in Ukraine.
Russia, which has been excluded, has denounced the talks while Ukraine said the meeting in the resort city of Jeddah could be a stepping stone to a peace summit.
With Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hoping that such meetings would lead to a peace summit in autumn, there is speculation that the G20 summit in India could be the venue. All nations involved in peace talks will be represented at the G20 by their top leader and it would be a moment’s notice to arrange a meeting on its sidelines.
India’s participation in the talks is in line with its approach that dialogue and diplomacy is the best way forward, said MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi. However, he said as yet there was no move to hold a meeting on Ukraine on the sidelines of the G20 summit, as Zelenskyy seems to be alluding to.
The meeting which Kyiv and the West have organised in Saudi Arabia based on the Ukrainian President’s “peace formula” is a farce and is intended to forge an anti-Russian coalition, said Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova. The meeting was a “bait” for those countries that are honestly seeking a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict and these countries had been invited “with the aim of developing some kind of supposed peace initiative, to settle the situation”, she said.
Modi to travel for Brics Summit in Johannesburg
PM Narendra Modi will be heading for the BRICS summit after host and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa invited him for the meet in a phone call on Thursday, Aug 3.
During a phone call with Modi on Thursday evening, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa invited the prime minister to the Brics Summit and briefed him on preparations for the meeting.
“PM accepted the invitation and conveyed that he looked forward to his visit to Johannesburg to participate in the summit,” the external affairs ministry said in a readout of the conversation.
The ministry had earlier described as “speculative” media reports that Modi might skip the summit of the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Russia has said Putin will join the summit virtually while foreign minister Sergey Lavrov will lead a delegation to Johannesburg.