Introduction & Prelude to the Final Phase
- Provocation and Resignations: The outbreak of the Second World War and Britain’s decision to involve India without consulting provincial Congress ministries provoked the leaders of the Indian National Congress and Gandhi. The Congress ministers resigned in protest.
- Individual Satyagraha (October 1940): Gandhi launched Individual Satyagraha to keep up the morale of the Congress.
- Unlike earlier mass campaigns, this strategy was chosen so the war against fascism was not hampered.
- Satyagrahis were handpicked by Gandhi, and their demand was limited to asserting freedom of speech to preach against participating in the war.
- Chosen satyagrahis informed the District Magistrate in advance of the date, time, and venue, publicly declared: “It is wrong to help the British War effort with men or money. The only worthy effort is to resist all war efforts with non-violent resistance,” and offered arrest.
- It commenced on October 17, 1940, with Vinobha Bhave offering satyagraha near his Paunar ashram in Maharashtra.
- Suspended in December 1940, revived in January 1941 with groups offering satyagrahas, and finally withdrawn in August 1941.
- August Offer (August 8, 1940): Viceroy Lord Linlithgow offered:
- Dominion status at an unspecified future date.
- Expansion of the Viceroy’s Executive Council to include more Indians.
- Establishment of a War Advisory Council with Indians.
- Recognition of minority rights.
- A promise to recognize the right of Indian people to frame a constitution at some future date after the war.
- Individual Satyagraha served as the Congress response to this offer, which came too late for negotiations.
- Developments within Congress & Subhas Chandra Bose:
- Congress membership declined from 4.5 million in 1938–39 to 1.4 million in 1940–41.
- Subhas Chandra Bose was elected Congress President, which upset Gandhi, leading to Bose’s resignation.
- Isolated by top leaders refusing cooperation, Bose resigned, and the Calcutta AICC elected Rajendra Prasad as president.
- Bose formed the Forward Bloc to operate within Congress but was removed from all official positions in August 1939.
- Unlike other leaders who supported the British war effort due to the Axis powers (Germany, Italy, Japan) being fascist, Bose advocated non-cooperation with the Allies and active cooperation with the Axis powers.
- Lahore Resolution (March 23, 1940):
- The Muslim League passed a resolution demanding separate units/states for Muslims in contiguous majority areas in Eastern and North-Western India.
- Colonial administrators gave encouragement to this demand, providing them leverage to avoid negotiating with the Congress.
The Cripps Mission (1942)
- Background & Japanese Advances:
- By 1941, Axis advances were severe; France, Poland, Belgium, Norway, and Holland had fallen.
- Japan bombed Pearl Harbour on December 7, 1941, and rapidly conquered the Philippines, Indo-China, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Burma, arriving at India’s northeastern frontier.
- British troops retreated, abandoning Indian soldiers of the British Indian Army as Prisoners of War (POWs).
- Fearing the fall of Calcutta and Madras, and pressured by US President F.D. Roosevelt and Chinese President Chiang Kai-Shek, Prime Minister Winston Churchill dispatched Sir Stafford Cripps to India.
- In December 1941, the Congress Working Committee offered war cooperation on the condition of an immediate substantial transfer of power and full independence after the war.
- Proposals of Cripps (March 1942):
- A delegation led by Sir Stafford Cripps (a Labour member of the British War Cabinet) arrived in March 1942.
- Offered Dominion Status and a post-war constitution-making body (partially elected by provincial assemblies and partly nominated by Princely States).
- Provinces unwilling to accept the new constitution reserved the right to enter separate agreements with Britain (laying the groundwork for Pakistan).
- Rejection:
- Rejected because Dominion Status fell short of full independence, Princely States’ members were nominated rather than elected, and it held the potential for partition.
- Jawaharlal Nehru stated that reading the proposals left him “profoundly depressed”. Negotiations completely collapsed.
The Quit India Movement (1942)
- Factors Leading to the Struggle:
- Breakdown of the Cripps Mission.
- Severe economic distress: commodity prices rose sharply and food-grain shortages worsened.
- Subhas Chandra Bose’s broadcasts from Germany over Azad Hind Radio in March 1942.
- Congress Wardha Meeting (July 14, 1942):
- The Congress Working Committee resolved to launch a mass civil disobedience movement.
- C. Rajaji and Bhulabhai Desai had reservations and resigned from the Working Committee; Nehru accepted the majority decision despite personal hesitations.
- “Do or Die” Call:
- Gandhi demanded that the British “Leave India to God. If that is too much, then leave her to anarchy…”.
- He gave the call to “Do or Die”, framing the campaign as a “fight to the finish”.
- Outbreak and First Phase (Urban Phase):
- In the early morning of August 9, 1942, Gandhi and the entire Congress leadership were arrested.
- Spontaneous hartals, strikes, and violent police clashes erupted nationwide.
- Workers joined massive strikes: Tata Steel Plant at Jamshedpur shut for 13 days starting August 20, and Ahmedabad textile workers struck for over three months.
- Brutal Colonial Repression:
- 57 military battalions were deployed to put down protests, and aircraft were used to strafe demonstrators.
- Viceroy Linlithgow confessed to Churchill that it was “by far the most serious rebellion since 1857”.
- Second Phase (Rural & Guerrilla Warfare):
- Spread into rural areas driven by peasant resentment over a 60-point surge in food-grain prices between April and August 1942.
- Underground Socialist leaders who evaded arrest (Jayaprakash Narayan, Achyut Patwardhan, Asaf Ali, Yusuf Meherally, and Ram Manohar Lohia) organized youth into rural guerrilla groups.
- Coordinated attacks targeted communications: telegraph lines severed, railway tracks damaged, post offices destroyed, and government buildings torched (especially in Eastern UP, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Bengal).
- Parallel “National Governments”: Formed in liberated enclaves, notably the “Tamluk Jatiya Sarkar” in Midnapore district, Bengal (survived until September 1944), and another parallel government in Satara.
- Movement Statistics & Severity:
- By late 1943: 91,836 people were arrested; 1,060 shot dead by police; 208 police outposts, 332 railway stations, and 945 post offices destroyed or badly damaged; and at least 205 policemen defected to the rebels.
- Collective punitive fines were levied across whole villages.
- Azamgarh District Collector R.H. Niblett was sacked for being too lenient and recorded in his diary that the colonial government used “white terror” and an “incendiary police” burning down villages.
- Clandestine Radio Broadcasts:
- Bypassing press censorship, an underground radio transmitter operated out of Bombay, frequently shifting locations.
- Usha Mehta was the central operator; broadcasts were received as far as Madras.
- Gandhi’s Fast & Release:
- Gandhi began a 21-day fast in prison on February 10, 1943, revitalizing the movement.
- Released on medical grounds on May 6, 1944.
- He restarted the Constructive Programme, allowing Congress committees to resume public activities and bypass the ban.
- Lord Archibald Wavell succeeded Linlithgow as Viceroy in October 1943 and initiated moves for fresh negotiations.
Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army (INA)
- Origins of the INA:
- British Indian Army units abandoned as POWs in Malaya and Burma were organized by Mohan Singh (an officer of the British Indian Army in Malaya) with Japanese backing.
- (Further narrative covered in subsequent sections of the unit summarizes Bose taking charge of the INA in Singapore, the formation of the Provisional Government of Free India, the INA trials, and the 1946 Royal Indian Navy Revolt which accelerated the transfer of power and partition under the Mountbatten Plan).
Reference
12th History Samacheer: Unit 7: Last Phase of Indian National Movement
