History · Ch 11 — Mahatma Gandhi and the Nationalist Movement — Civil Disobedience and Beyond
Quit India
Quit India
The failure of the Cripps Mission in 1942 convinced Mahatma Gandhi that the British were not serious about granting India freedom. He decided to launch his third major movement against British rule — the Quit India campaign. It began in August 1942 and was genuinely a mass movement, bringing hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians into its fold.
Gandhiji was jailed at once, but younger activists organised strikes and acts of sabotage across the country. Socialist members of the Congress, such as Jayaprakash Narayan, were particularly active in the underground resistance. In several districts, "independent" governments were proclaimed — for example, in Satara in the west and Medinipur in the east. The British responded with much force, yet it took them more than a year to suppress the rebellion.
The movement especially energised the young. In very large numbers, students left their colleges to go to jail.
While Congress leaders languished in jail, Jinnah and his colleagues in the Muslim League worked patiently at expanding their influence. It was during these years that the League began to make a mark in the Punjab and Sind — provinces where it had previously had scarcely any presence.
In June 1944, with the end of the war in sight, Gandhiji was released from prison. Later that year, he held a series of meetings with Jinnah, seeking to bridge the gap between the Congress and the League.
The Satara parallel government (prati sarkar)
From the late nineteenth century, a non-Brahman movement opposing the caste system and landlordism had developed in Maharashtra. This movement established links with the national movement by the 1930s. In 1943, some younger leaders in the Satara district set up a parallel government (prati sarkar) with volunteer corps (seba dals) and village units (tufan dals). They ran people's courts and organised constructive work. Dominated by kunbi peasants and supported by dalits, the Satara prati sarkar functioned till the elections of 1946, despite government repression and, in the later stages, Congress disapproval.
The road to partition
In 1945, a Labour government came to power in Britain and committed itself to granting independence to India. The Viceroy, Lord Wavell, brought the Congress and the League together for a series of talks. Early in 1946, fresh elections were held to the provincial legislatures. The Congress swept the "General" category, but in the seats specifically reserved for Muslims, the League won an overwhelming majority. The political polarisation was complete.
A Cabinet Mission sent in the summer of 1946 failed to get the Congress and the League to agree on a federal system that would keep India together while allowing the provinces a degree of autonomy. After the talks broke down, Jinnah called for a "Direct Action Day" to press the League's demand for Pakistan. On 16 August 1946, bloody riots broke out in Calcutta. The violence spread to rural Bengal, then to Bihar, and then across the country to the United Provinces and the Punjab. In some places, Muslims were the main sufferers; in other places, Hindus. …
The photograph in Figure 11.12 captures a women’s procession marching through the streets of Bombay during the Quit India Movement of 1942. The image shows a dense column of women, many of them young, walking in orderly formation along a road lined with buildings. They carry flags and banners, though the specific slogans or symbols on them are not legible from the description. The women are dressed in a mix of saris and other Indian attire, and the procession appears to be peaceful but determined.
What this photograph teaches is central to understanding the Quit India Movement’s character. The textbook text explicitly states that this was “genuinely a mass movement” that drew in “hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians” and “especially energised the young.” The presence of a women’s procession in Bombay — a major urban centre — shows that the 1942 struggle was not confined to male leaders or to rural areas. Women from all walks of life, including students and housewives, stepped out into public spaces to protest, often facing arrest and police brutality. This was a marked shift from earlier movements, where women’s participation, though present, was less visible and less organised on such a scale. …
Satara, 1943. From the late nineteenth century, a non-Brahman movement, which opposed the caste system and landlordism, had developed in Maharashtra. This movement established links with the national movement by the 1930s.
In 1943, some of the younger leaders in the Satara district of Maharashtra set up a parallel government (prati sarkar), with volunteer corps (seba dals) and village units (tufan dals). They ran people’s courts and organised constructive work. Dominated by kunbi peasants and supported by dalits, the Satara prati sarkar functioned till the elections of 1946, despite government repression and, in the later stages, Congress disapproval. …
Figure 11.13 is a photograph, not a diagram or map. It shows three men seated together in an informal setting, likely outdoors. Mahatma Gandhi sits in the centre, cross-legged on the floor, dressed in his usual simple dhoti and shawl. On his right sits Jawaharlal Nehru, and on his left sits Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. Both Nehru and Patel are also seated on the ground, facing the camera or slightly turned towards Gandhi. The caption identifies them by name and position relative to Gandhi.
The photograph is not a staged portrait but a candid moment of discussion. There are no labels, arrows, or panels — the image relies entirely on the viewer recognising the three leaders. The composition places Gandhi physically between the other two, which visually echoes the caption’s point: that he often had to mediate between Nehru and Patel.
What this image teaches is central to understanding the internal dynamics of the Indian National Congress in the 1930s and 1940s. Nehru represented the socialist tendency within the party — he was drawn to Marxist ideas, wanted land reforms, and favoured a strong central state. Patel, by contrast, represented the conservative tendency — he was more pragmatic, closer to the business class and landed peasantry, and prioritised organisational discipline over ideological radicalism. Gandhi did not fully agree with either man on every issue, but he respected both and used his moral authority to keep the Congress united. The photograph captures that balancing act: Gandhi is literally in the middle, the figure who held the two wings of the party together. …