Image: Mahatma Gandhi, 1942. Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
The Quit India Movement was launched in August 1942 during the Second World War. Gandhi and the Indian National Congress demanded an end to British rule in India.
The wartime background
India was involved in the Second World War under British rule. Political negotiations over India’s future had intensified, including the arrival of the Cripps Mission in 1942.
The Quit India resolution
The Gandhi Heritage Portal records that the Congress adopted the Quit India resolution on 8 August 1942. Gandhi gave the movement its famous “Do or Die” call.
Arrests followed immediately
On 9 August, Gandhi and members of the Congress Working Committee were arrested. Gandhi was imprisoned at the Aga Khan Palace in Pune.
A movement without its central leaders
Because the main Congress leadership was quickly detained, protests developed through local networks and activists across India. Demonstrations, strikes and acts of resistance occurred in different regions.
Gandhi’s imprisonment
Gandhi remained imprisoned at the Aga Khan Palace for an extended period. During this period, Mahadev Desai died in August 1942 and Kasturba Gandhi died in February 1944. Gandhi was released in May 1944.
Historical significance
Quit India became one of the final major mass movements against British rule. It occurred several years before independence and Partition in 1947.
See the Gandhi Heritage Portal chronology and NewsNationOnline’s earlier Non-Cooperation Movement feature.
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