Quit India Movement

QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT:

1939: OUTBREAK OF WW-II

• September 1, 1939
• Viceroy Linlithgow unilaterally declared India as a belligerent state on the British side.

1939: CWC MEETING, WARDHA

• September 10th-14th, 1939
• Congress finally decided to adopt Nehru's view & extend conditional support to the British.

1939: VICEROY LINLITHGOW'S STATEMENT

• October 17th, 1939
• The British government refused to make any promises & commit itself in advance on the post-war constitutional status of India.
• Talked about setting up of a "consultative committee".

1939: CONGRESS MINISTERS RESIGN

• October 22nd, 1939
• Congress Ministers resign to protest against Britain's unilateral decision of dragging India into the war.
• Provincial governments continued in 4 provinces- Assam, Sindh, Punjab & Bengal.

1939: DAY OF DELIVERANCE

• December, 22nd 1939
• Muslim League celebrates "day of deliverance" upon the resignation of Congress Ministers.

1940: PAKISTAN RESOLUTION, LAHORE

• March 1940
• Muslim League passed the Pakistan Resolution calling the formation of Pakistan as a separate homeland for the Muslims.

1940: RAMGARH CONGRESS SESSION

• March 1940
• Presided by Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.
• A resolution was passed which declared that a civil disobedience movement shall be launched as soon as the Congress organization is considered fit enough for the purpose.
• A coalition of various Left-wing groups who got together & held an anti-compromise conference at Ramgarh under the leadership of Subhas Chandra Bose & resolved to prepare themselves for a militant struggle.

1940: AUGUST OFFER

• August, 8th 1940
• For the first time, the inherent right of Indians to frame their own constitution was recognized & the demand for Constituent Assembly was conceded.

1940: INDIVIDUAL STAYAGRAHA

• Acharya Vinoba Bhave became the First Satyagrahi.
• He was to deliver an anti-war speech village after village while moving in the direction of Delhi, thus initiating a movement that came to be known as the "Delhi Chalo" movement.
• Bhave delivered his first anti-war speech Paunar village near Wardha.
• Later, Jawaharlal Nehru became the second individual Satyagrahi.

1942: CRIPPS MISSION

• March 22nd, 1940
• In March, Japan occupied Rangoon bringing the war to India's doorstep which forced the British to send Cripps Mission to India.
• Prime Minister Winston Churchill sent the leader of the House of Commons, Sir Stafford Cripps, with the aim of securing India's active support in the war effort.
• Cripps declared that the aim of the new British policy in India was 'the earliest possible realization of self-government in India'.
• Proposed included- Dominion Status, Constituent Assembly, Right of Non-Accession of Provinces, Right of Secession of provinces, Protection of racial & linguistic minorities & British control over the defense.
• Gandhi rejected the proposals calling the Cripps offer for Dominion Status after the war as 'a poet dated cheque on a crashing bank'.
• Cripps adopted a 'take it or leave it' attitude which added to the deadlock.

1942: CWC MEETING AT WARDHA

• July 14th, 1942
• The CWC adopted the Quit India Resolution which was to be later ratified by the AICC in its Bombay meeting.

1942: QUIT INDIA MOVEMENT (QIM)

• August 18th, 1942
• AICC met at Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay & ratified the Quit India Resolution.
• The next day morning, all prominent leaders of the Congress, including Gandhi, were arrested.
• Hence what arose was a spontaneous movement that began taking its own course, with people directing their own actions.

1943: PAKISTAN DAY

• March 23rd, 1943
• Even as the QIM, continued the League observed the 'Pakistan Day' & also adopted a new slogan 'Divide & Quit'.

1944: RAJAGOPALACHARI FORMULA

• March, 1944
• It was the formula to bring about Congress-League Cooperation, accepting the 'idea of Pakistan' on the basis of a plebiscite or referendum after the war.
• The formula was developed with the full approval of Gandhi.

1945: DESAI-LIAQUAT PLAN

• June, 1945
• It proposed the formation of an Interim Government at the Centre, consisting of an equal number of persons nominated by the Congress & the League in the Central Legislature.

1945: CONGRESS LEADERS RELEASED FROM JAIL

• June 14th, 1945
• On 8th May 1945, the war in Europe ended with the surrender of Germany
• The Congress leaders were released from jail in anticipation of the Shimla Conference, making the official end of the Quit Indian Movement.