Editing Indian independence movement (section)

===Quit India Movement===
{{Main|Quit India Movement}}

The Quit India Movement (also known as ''Bharat Chhodo Andolan'') was a [[civil disobedience]] movement in India which commenced on 8 August 1942 in response to [[Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi|Gandhi]]'s call for immediate self-rule by Indians and against sending Indians to World War II. He asked all teachers to leave their schools, and other Indians to leave their respective jobs and take part in this movement. Due to Gandhi's political influence, his request was followed by a significant proportion of the population. In addition, Congress-led the Quit India Movement to demand the British to leave India and transfer the political power to a representative government.

During the movement, Gandhi and his followers continued to use non-violence against British rule. This movement was where Gandhi gave his famous message, "Do or Die!", and this message spread towards the Indian community. In addition, this movement was addressed directly to women as "disciplined soldiers of Indian freedom" and they had to keep the war for independence to go on (against British rule).

[[File:Procession at Bangalore during Quit India movement, by Indian National Congress.jpg|thumb|left|200px|Procession in [[Bangalore]] during the [[Quit India Movement]].]]
At the outbreak of war, the Congress Party had during the Wardha meeting of the working-committee in September 1939, passed a resolution conditionally supporting the fight against fascism,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aicc.org.in/the_congress_and_the_freedom_movement.htm#the|title=The Congress and The Freedom Movement|access-date=24 September 2007|publisher =Indian National Congress |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20070811001411/http://www.aicc.org.in/the_congress_and_the_freedom_movement.htm#the |archive-date = 11 August 2007}}</ref> but were rebuffed when they asked for self-rule in return. In March 1942, faced with an increasingly dissatisfied sub-continent only reluctantly participating in the war, and deteriorations in the war situation in Europe and [[South East Asia]], and with growing dissatisfactions among Indian troops- especially in Europe- and among the civilian population in the sub-continent, the British government sent a delegation to India under [[Stafford Cripps]], in what came to be known as the [[Cripps' Mission]]. The purpose of the mission was to negotiate with the Indian National Congress a deal to obtain total co-operation during the war, in return of progressive devolution and distribution of power from the crown and the [[Viceroy]] to elected Indian legislature. However, the talks failed, having failed to address the key demand of a timeframe towards self-government, and of the definition of the powers to be relinquished, essentially portraying an offer of limited dominion-status that was wholly unacceptable to the Indian movement.<ref name="Barkawi">Culture and Combat in the Colonies. The Indian Army in the Second World War. [[Tarak Barkawi]]. J Contemn History. 41(2), 325–355.pp:332</ref> To force the British Raj to meet its demands and to obtain definitive word on total self-rule, the Congress took the decision to launch the Quit India Movement.

The aim of the movement was to force the British Government to the negotiating table by holding the Allied war effort hostage. The call for determined but [[passive resistance]] that signified the certitude that Gandhi foresaw for the movement is best described by his call to ''Do or Die'', issued on 8 August at the [[Gowalia Tank]] Maidan in Bombay, since renamed ''August Kranti Maidan'' (August Revolution Ground). However, almost the entire Congress leadership, and not merely at the national level, was put into confinement less than 24 hours after Gandhi's speech, and the greater number of the Congress were to spend the rest of the war in jail.

On 8 August 1942, the Quit India resolution was passed at the Mumbai session of the All India Congress Committee (AICC). The draft proposed that if the British did not accede to the demands, a massive Civil Disobedience would be launched. However, it was an extremely controversial decision. At Gowalia Tank, [[Mumbai]], Gandhi urged Indians to follow non-violent civil disobedience. Gandhi told the masses to act as citizens of a sovereign nation and not to follow the orders of the British. The British, already alarmed by the advance of the Japanese army to the India–Burma border, responded the next day by imprisoning Gandhi at the [[Aga Khan Palace]] in [[Pune]]. The Congress Party's Working Committee, or national leadership was arrested all together and imprisoned at the Ahmednagar Fort. They also banned the party altogether. All the major leaders of the INC were arrested and detained. As the masses were leaderless the protest took a violent turn. Large-scale protests and demonstrations were held all over the country. Workers remained absent en masse and strikes were called. The movement also saw widespread acts of sabotage, Indian under-ground organisation carried out bomb attacks on allied supply convoys, government buildings were set on fire, electricity lines were disconnected and transport and communication lines were severed. The disruptions were under control in a few weeks and had little impact on the war effort. The movement soon became a leaderless act of defiance, with a number of acts that deviated from Gandhi's principle of non-violence. In large parts of the country, the local underground organisations took over the movement.

All the other major parties rejected the Quit India plan, and most cooperated closely with the British, as did the princely states, the civil service, and the police. The [[All-India Muslim League|Muslim League]] supported the Raj and grew rapidly in membership, and in influence with the British.<ref name="m394">{{cite book | last=Chandra | first=A.M. | title=India Condensed: 5,000 Years of History & Culture | publisher=Marshall Cavendish Corporation | year=2008 | isbn=978-981-261-975-4 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b7-IAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA71 | access-date=2024-08-09 | page=71}}</ref><ref name="v273">{{cite book | last=Tucker | first=S.C. | title=The Cold War: The Definitive Encyclopedia and Document Collection [5 volumes] | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2020 | isbn=979-8-216-06249-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZX3EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT1567 | access-date=2024-08-09 | page=1567}}</ref>

There was opposition to the Quit India Movement from several political quarters who were fighting for Indian self-rule. Hindu nationalist parties like the [[Hindu Mahasabha]] openly opposed the call and boycotted the Quit India Movement.<ref name="Bapu2013">{{cite book|first=Prabhu|last=Bapu|title=Hindu Mahasabha in Colonial North India, 1915–1930: Constructing Nation and History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iUFalxUFFWkC&pg=PA103|year=2013|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-67165-1|pages=103–}}</ref> [[Vinayak Damodar Savarkar]], the president of the Hindu Mahasabha at that time, even went to the extent of writing a letter titled "Stick to your Posts", in which he instructed Hindu Sabhaites who happened to be "members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or those serving in the army...to stick to their posts" across the country, and not to join the Quit India Movement at any cost.<ref name="Bapu2013"/>

The other Hindu nationalist organisation, and Mahasabha affiliate [[Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh]] (RSS) had a tradition of keeping aloof from the anti-British Indian self-rule movement since its founding by [[K.B. Hedgewar]] in 1925. In 1942, the RSS, under [[M.S. Golwalkar]] completely abstained from joining in the Quit India Movement as well. The Bombay government (British) appreciated the RSS as such, by noting that,
<blockquote> The Sangh has scrupulously kept itself within the law, and in particular, has refrained from taking part in the disturbances that broke out in August 1942.<ref name="Bandyopādhyāẏa2004">{{cite book |first=Sekhara |last=Bandyopadhyaya |year=2004 |title=From Plassey to Partition: A History of Modern India |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0oVra0ulQ3QC&pg=PA422 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |page=422 |isbn=978-81-250-2596-2}}</ref></blockquote>
The British Government stated that the RSS was not at all supporting any civil disobedience against them, and as such their other political activities(even if objectionable) can be overlooked.<ref name="Chandra2008">{{harvnb|Chandra|2008|p=140|ref=ChandraCommunism}}</ref>  Further, the British Government also asserted that at Sangh meetings organised during the times of anti-British movements started and fought by the Indian National Congress,
<blockquote> Speakers urged the Sangh members to keep aloof from the congress movement and these instructions were generally observed.<ref name="Chandra2008"/>
</blockquote> As such, the British government did not crackdown on the RSS and Hindu Mahasabha at all.

The RSS head (''sarsanghchalak'') during that time, [[M.S. Golwalkar]] later openly admitted to the fact that the RSS did not participate in the Quit India Movement. However, such an attitude during the Indian independence movement also led to the Sangh being viewed with distrust and anger, both by the general Indian public, as well as certain members of the organisation itself. In Golwalkar's own words,
<blockquote>In 1942 also, there was a strong sentiment in the hearts of many. At that time too, the routine work of the Sangh continued. Sangh decided not to do anything directly. 'Sangh is the organisation of inactive people, their talks have no substance' was the opinion uttered not only by outsiders but also our own ''swayamsevaks''.<ref name="Puniyani2005">{{harvnb|Puniyani|2005|pp=134–}}</ref><ref name="Islam2006">{{cite book|first=Shamsul|last=Islam|title=Religious Dimensions of Indian Nationalism: A Study of RSS|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iaQjbO8SN48C&pg=PA187|year=2006|publisher=Media House|isbn=978-81-7495-236-3|pages=187–}}</ref>
</blockquote>

A number of violent incidents against British officials also took place during the Quit India movement around the country. The British arrested tens of thousands of leaders, keeping them imprisoned until 1945. Ultimately, the British government realised that India was ungovernable in the long run, and the question for the postwar era became how to exit gracefully and peacefully.