Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

FREEDOM MOVEMENT

* Salt is a prime necessity of our life. Our countrymen should consider themselves free to manufacture it wherever they can do so, whether in coastal or inland areas. * Our struggle is "non-violent non-co-op- eration" on the widest possible scale. The teeming millions that inhabit the 700,000 villages form the backbone of our struggle....Let them withhold all co- operation from the alien administration.... * The students are the vanguard of our struggle. Let students above 16 leave their colleges and universities and con- duct the non-violent struggle to its victo- rious conclusion. * The members of the government serv- ices are faced with a choice...Let those who do not have the strength to resign their jobs have at least the courage to say 'no' to all orders that are designed to suppress and crush our people. If the saying of 'no' involves dismissal: let it be cheerfully courted. * As Gandhiji said, let every soldier in the army consider himself a Congressman. If his officer issues an order which hurts his conscience as a Congressman, let him disobey it and take the consequences cheerfully. * The Indian states are a part and parcel of India. The struggle today is as much theirs as of the so-called British India. Let our brothers in Indian States make the struggle their own. * Gandhiji has time and again stressed the vital and decisive part that our women- folk can play in the non-violent struggle. Let it fall to them to enthuse and inevita- bly energise the people ........ * Let every man and woman in the country carry on his or her person a badge bearing the motto: * This is a struggle in which all Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Parsis and Christians have to participate. * With the arrest of Mahatma Gandhi every man and woman in India is his successor. Victory or death should be the motto of every son and daughter of India. * Last but not the least, let us not forget spinning.......If millions spin, it will ad- minister a powerful stimulus to the struggle.” “Do or Die " Karenge ya Marenge

Gandhiji came to the conclusion that the only way the people of India could be made to shed all fear and fight the aggressor was to make them feel not only that they were their own masters but also that the defence of the country was their duty. Therefore he decided to launch a movement calling upon the British to hand over power to the Indians and quit. Many of the leaders considered the moment inopportune to make such a drastic demand. The failure of the Cripps Mission had deprived the leaders of an opportunity to co-operate in full measure in the defence of the country. However, Gandhiji was overwhelmingly persuasive and he said if even this was not ac- ceptable he would leave the Congress and ‘out of the sands of India create a movement which would be larger than the Congress itself.’ The Working Committee met in Wardha early in July and formulated the ‘National Demand’. It called upon Britain immediately to transfer power to Indians and ‘Quit India’. If the proposal was rejected ‘the Congress will then be reluctantly compelled to utilize all the non-violent strength it might have gathered since 1920 and launch a movement of direct action.’ On 7th August 1942, the AICC session at Bombay was historic. It passed the famous ‘Quit India’ resolution. It was not an uncom- promising demand. There was an offer of co- operation in the war effort contained in it. It also challenged the government to act imme- diately. ‘On the declaration of India's independ- ence a provisional government will be formed and a Free India will become an ally of the United Nations. ’ At a meeting of the AICC held in Bom- bay on 7-8 Aug 1942, a resolution recom- mended by the Congress Working Committee was passed by an overwhelming majority. Excerpts from it are given below : "The committee approves of and endorses that resolution (Working Committee resolu- tion of 14th July 1942) and is of opinion that events subsequent to it have given further justification, and have made it clear that the immediate ending of British rule in India is an urgent necessity, both for the sake of India and for the success of the cause of the United Nations. The continuation of that rule is de- grading and enfeebling India and making her progressively less capable of defending her- self and of contributing to the cause of world freedom......

The possession of empire, instead of adding to the strength of the ruling power, has become a burden and a curse. India, the classic land of modern imperialism, has become the crux of the question, for by the freedom of India will Britian and the United Nations be judged, and the people of Asia and Africa be filled with hope and enthusiasm. The ending of British rule in this country is thus a vital and immediate issue on which depends the fu- ture of the war and the success of freedom and democracy. A free India will assure the success by throwing all her great resources in the struggle for freedom and against the aggression of Nazism, fascism and imperi- alism. This will not only affect materially the fortunes of the war, but will bring all subject and oppressed humanity on the side of the United Nations, and give these Na- tions, whose ally India would be, the moral and spiritual leadership of the world. India in bondage will continue to be the symbol of British imperialism and the taint of that im- perialism will affect the fortunes of all the United Nations........ The AICC therefore repeats with all emphasis the demand for the withdrawal of the British power from India. On the declara- tion of India's independence, a Provisional Government will be formed and Free India will become an ally of the United Nations, sharing with them in the trials and tribulations of the joint enterprise of the struggle for free- dom. The Provisional Government can only be formed by the co-operation of the principal parties and groups in the country.... The freedom of India must be the symbol of and prelude to the freedom of all other Asiatic nations under foreign domination. Burma, Malaya, Indo-China, the Dutch In- dies, Iran, Iraq must also attain their complete freedom. It must be clearly understood that such of these countries as are under Japanese control now must not*subsequently be placed under rule or control of any other colonial power.” Excerpts from the text of the twelve- point programme for the Quit India move- ment, issued by the secretariat of the All India Congress Committee, are given below. * "There shall be a hartal throughout the country in all the cities and villages of India. The hartal will be the country's protest against the arrest of Gandhiji, the Congress President and members of the Working Committee.... 12 - Point Programme for Quit India