Quit India Movement (1942)

Quit India Movement (1942)

Key Pointers

• Background: World War II; August Offer (1940); Individual Satyagraha (1940) (Vinoba Bhave first, Nehru second); Cripps Mission (March 1942) offered Dominion status after the war with a provision for provinces to opt out, rejected by Congress (Gandhi: 'post-dated cheque on a crashing bank'); Japanese advance in Burma; rising prices and shortages.
• Resolution: CWC at Wardha (July 1942); the Quit India resolution was passed at Bombay's Gowalia Tank (AICC, 8 August 1942); Gandhi's slogan 'Do or Die'.
• Repression: Operation Zero Hour (9 August 1942) arrested Gandhi, Patel, Nehru, Azad and others. Gandhi was kept at Aga Khan Palace, Pune (Mahadev Desai and Kasturba Gandhi died there); the CWC members at Ahmednagar Fort.
• Underground leadership: Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the flag at Gowalia Tank (9 Aug); Jayaprakash Narayan (escaped Hazaribagh jail), Ram Manohar Lohia, Achyut Patwardhan, Usha Mehta (Congress Radio).
• Parallel governments: Ballia (Chittu Pande), Tamluk (Jatiya Sarkar, Midnapore), Satara (Prati Sarkar, Nana Patil, Y.B. Chavan).
• Nature: Spontaneous mass upsurge; sabotage of railways, telegraph lines, police stations; student and peasant involvement.
• Opposition: Muslim League (Jinnah: 'Divide and Quit'), Communist Party (supported war after Soviet entry), Princely states, Hindu Mahasabha; Ambedkar.
• After: CR Formula (1944) and Gandhi–Jinnah talks (Gandhi released in May 1944 on health grounds); Desai–Liaquat proposal (1945); Wavell Plan.
• Significance: Final mass phase; British realised they could not rule India for long.

MCQs

Q1. The Quit India resolution was passed at: (a) Gowalia Tank, Bombay (b) Wardha (c) Calcutta (d) Allahabad Answer: (a). The AICC met on 8 August 1942.

Q2. Who hoisted the flag at Gowalia Tank on 9 August 1942? (a) Usha Mehta (b) Aruna Asaf Ali (c) Sarojini Naidu (d) Sucheta Kripalani Answer: (b).

Q3. Which of the following parallel governments was established during the Quit India Movement? (a) Ballia (b) Tamluk (c) Satara (d) All of the above Answer: (d).