History · Modern History
Covers the launch and spread of the Quit India Movement (1942), parallel governments, Gandhi's fast, the CR Formula, Desai-Liaqat Pact, Wavell Plan, and the two phases of the INA under Mohan Singh and Subhash Bose culminating in the Imphal-Kohima campaign.
The failure of the Cripps Mission in April 1942 left Indian nationalists frustrated and convinced that Britain had no genuine intention of transferring power. Simultaneously, Japanese forces were sweeping through Southeast Asia and approaching India's borders — creating both a military threat and a psychological opportunity. Against this charged backdrop, Gandhi crafted the most explosive mass mobilisation of the freedom movement: the Quit India Movement. The same period also witnessed Subhash Bose's audacious bid to liberate India from outside through the Indian National Army (INA), while constitutional negotiations between the Congress and the Muslim League drifted toward an irreversible partition trajectory.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Jul 14, 1942 | CWC at Wardha accepts the idea of struggle; Quit India resolution drafted |
| Aug 8, 1942 | AICC meeting at Gowalia Tank, Bombay — Quit India Resolution ratified; Gandhi gives 'Do or Die' call |
| Aug 9, 1942 | All top Congress leaders arrested in early morning sweep; Aruna Asaf Ali hoists Congress flag |
| Aug–Sep 1942 | Public uprising: bridges blown, telegraph lines cut; parallel governments emerge |
| Aug 1942 | Parallel government at Ballia (UP) under Chittu Pandey — lasts one week |
| Dec 1942–Sep 1944 | Jatiya Sarkar (parallel govt) at Tamluk, Midnapore |
| Feb 1943 | Gandhi begins fast in jail; 3 viceroy council members resign |
| Mar 23, 1943 | Pakistan Day observed |
| Mid-1943–1945 | Prati Sarkar (parallel govt) at Satara, Maharashtra |
| 1943 | Bengal Famine — 1.5 to 3 million perish |
| Mar 1944 | CR (Rajagopalachari) Formula for Congress-League cooperation |
| 1944 | Desai-Liaqat Pact proposal |
| Jun 1945 | Wavell Plan and Shimla Conference; breaks down |
| Jan 1941 | Bose escapes house arrest; reaches Peshawar as 'Ziauddin' |
| Jan 1942 | Bose begins Berlin radio broadcasts |
| Jul 1943 | Bose arrives in Singapore; takes over INA from Rashbehari Bose |
| Aug 25, 1943 | Bose becomes Supreme Commander of INA |
| Oct 21, 1943 | Provisional Government of Free India (Azad Hind) proclaimed at Singapore |
| Nov 6, 1943 | Andaman & Nicobar Islands handed to INA by Japan; renamed Shahid Dweep & Swaraj Dweep |
| Mar 18, 1944 | Azad Hind Fauz crosses Burma border; stands on Indian soil |
| Apr 14, 1944 | INA flag hoisted at Moirang, Manipur by Colonel Malik |
| Jul 6, 1944 | Bose addresses Gandhi as 'Father of the Nation' on Azad Hind Radio |
| Jul 18, 1944 | INA begins withdrawal after Allied recapture |
| Aug 15, 1945 | Japan surrenders; INA surrenders |
| Aug 18, 1945 | Bose reportedly dies in air crash at Taipei (Taiwan) |
Several converging factors made 1942 the moment for decisive action:
The CWC met at Wardha on July 14, 1942, and resolved to authorise Gandhi to lead a non-violent mass movement. The resolution was formally known as the 'Quit India' Resolution, proposed by Jawaharlal Nehru and seconded by Sardar Patel.
The resolution was ratified at the AICC meeting at Gowalia Tank, Bombay, on August 8, 1942. The meeting resolved to:
Gandhi was named leader of the struggle and delivered the electrifying call: "Do or Die" — "We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery."
Gandhi's special instructions (spelt out at Gowalia Tank but not formally issued before the arrests) were:
Government pre-emption: In the early hours of August 9, 1942, in a single sweep, all top Congress leaders were arrested and taken to undisclosed locations. The Congress Working Committee, AICC, and Provincial Congress Committees were declared unlawful under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1908. Public meetings were prohibited under Rule 56 of the Defence of India Rules.
With established leaders removed, younger and more militant elements took charge. Aruna Asaf Ali — till then relatively unknown — presided over the Congress session on August 9 and hoisted the Congress flag at Gowalia Tank.
Public Rampage: Crowds attacked symbols of authority, hoisted national flags on public buildings, blew up bridges, removed railway tracks and cut telegraph lines. The most intense activity was in eastern United Provinces and Bihar.
Underground Network: Key personalities who went underground: Rammanohar Lohia, Jayaprakash Narayan, Aruna Asaf Ali, Usha Mehta (who ran an underground radio in Bombay), Biju Patnaik, Chhotubhai Puranik, Achyut Patwardhan, Sucheta Kripalani and R.P. Goenka.
Three notable parallel governments emerged:
| Location | Period | Leadership | Key Activities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ballia (UP) | August 1942 (one week) | Chittu Pandey | Released many Congress leaders from jail |
| Tamluk (Midnapore, Bengal) | Dec 1942–Sep 1944 | Jatiya Sarkar | Cyclone relief, school grants, paddy redistribution, Vidyut Vahinis |
| Satara (Maharashtra) | Mid-1943–1945 | Y.B. Chavan, Nana Patil (Prati Sarkar) | Village libraries, Nyayadan Mandals, prohibition campaigns, 'Gandhi marriages' |
Joined: Youth and students (front-liners), women (Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kripalani, Usha Mehta), workers (strikes in Ahmedabad, Bombay, Jamshedpur, Ahmednagar, Poona), peasants of all strata (no anti-zamindar violence — offensive concentrated on symbols of authority), lower-level government officials and police (who passed information to activists), and Muslims (who sheltered underground activists — no communal clashes during the movement).
Did NOT join:
Though martial law was not formally declared, repression was severe — lathi charges, tear gas, firing on crowds. An estimated 10,000 people were killed. The press was muzzled, military took over many cities, rebellious villages were fined and subjected to mass flogging.
In prison, Gandhi began a fast in February 1943 as a protest against the government's demand that he condemn the violence of the movement — he turned it against the violence of the State instead. Three members of the Viceroy's Executive Council resigned in protest. Public morale rose, anti-British feeling intensified, and the government's high-handedness was exposed.
The worst-affected areas were south-west Bengal (Tamluk-Contai-Diamond Harbour region), Dacca, Faridpur, Tippera and Noakhali. Between 1.5 to 3 million people perished from starvation, malnutrition, malaria, cholera and smallpox. Fundamental causes:
This was essentially a man-made famine — a damning indictment of colonial wartime governance.
C. Rajagopalachari, the veteran Congress leader, devised this formula as a basis for Congress-League cooperation — a tacit acceptance of the League's Pakistan demand. Gandhi supported it.
Main points:
Jinnah's objections:
The core impasse: the Congress wanted cooperation for Indian independence; the League was only interested in a separate nation, not in the independence of a united India.
Bhulabhai Desai (leader of Congress Party in the Central Legislative Assembly) and Liaqat Ali Khan (deputy leader of Muslim League in that Assembly) drafted a proposal for an interim government consisting of:
Though no formal settlement was reached, the de facto parity between Congress and League established here had far-reaching consequences for future negotiations.
Context: War in Europe ended in May 1945, but Japan remained. Churchill's Conservative government wanted to appear solution-oriented before the impending British general election.
Main proposals:
Muslim League's Stand: Demanded that all Muslim members be League nominees (feared being reduced to a one-third minority otherwise) and claimed a communal veto — decisions opposed to Muslims to require a two-thirds majority.
Congress's Stand: Objected to being treated as a purely caste Hindu party; insisted on its right to include members of all communities among its nominees.
Wavell's Mistake: By announcing a breakdown of talks, Wavell effectively handed the League a virtual veto — enormously strengthening Jinnah's position going into the 1945–46 elections and exposing the real character of Churchill's Conservative government.
Bose passed the Indian Civil Services examination (4th rank) but resigned in 1921 to join the freedom movement. His political guru was Chittaranjan Das. He became Mayor of Calcutta in 1923.
In January 1941, Bose escaped house arrest and reached Peshawar under the pseudonym Ziauddin, aided by Bhagat Ram. He then made his way to the Soviet Union (which disappointed him by joining the Allies in June 1941) and then to Germany, where he met Hitler under the pseudonym Orlando Mazzotta.
In Germany:
In early 1943, he left Germany via German and Japanese submarines and reached Singapore in July 1943.
The INA idea originated with Mohan Singh, an Indian Army officer who refused to join the retreating British in Malaya and turned to the Japanese for Indian POWs. After the fall of Singapore, several POWs were willing to join.
Rashbehari Bose had fled to Japan in 1915 following failed revolutionary activities. He became a naturalised Japanese citizen, founded the Indian Club of Tokyo, and worked in Pan-Asian circles to generate Japanese interest in Indian independence. He created the Indian Independence League in Tokyo (1942) and chaired it.
At a Bangkok conference, it was decided to place the INA under the Indian Independence League. When Subhash Bose was brought in by the Japanese, Rashbehari willingly transferred control — it was on Rashbehari's organisational groundwork that Subhash built the INA. Rashbehari Bose died on January 21, 1945, aged 58.
Provisional Government of Free India (Azad Hind), October 21, 1943 — proclaimed at Singapore:
November 6, 1943: Andaman and Nicobar Islands handed to INA by Japan; renamed Shahid Dweep and Swaraj Dweep respectively.
July 6, 1944: Bose addressed Gandhi as 'Father of the Nation' on Azad Hind Radio — making him the first person to use this title for Gandhi.
When INA POWs were brought back to India for court-martial, a powerful nationwide movement emerged in their defence — itself a major factor in accelerating the British decision to quit India.
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This chapter covers Background / Context, Chronology / Timeline, The Quit India Movement (August 1942), Bengal Famine of 1943, Constitutional Negotiations: Demand for Pakistan. It is organized as revision-ready notes followed by a linked practice quiz.
For Final Push for Freedom: Quit India, Jinnah's Demand, and Bose's Army, focus on definitions, dates, places, institutions, distinguishing features, and factual comparisons in the chapter. Then use the quiz to check recall and identify gaps.
Use the Final Push for Freedom: Quit India, Jinnah's Demand, and Bose's Army chapter headings to organize an answer framework. Connect causes, consequences, comparisons, examples, and evidence wherever the notes provide them instead of memorizing isolated facts.