QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT (Syllabus: GS Paper 1 - History)

Context: The Vice-President and Chairman, Rajya Sabha paid homage to our freedom fighters on the 81st Anniversary of the historic 'Quit India Movement.

• Reflecting on the resounding clarion call of 'Do or Die' by Mahatma Gandhi, he highlighted that “it infused the masses with a new-found energy which culminated in our nation achieving Independence from the yoke of colonial rule”.

Quit India Movement

• The Quit India Movement, also known as the Bharat Chhodo Andolan, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 9 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in India.
• 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. 
• 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.
• 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.