RSTV - The Big Picture: August Revolution and Quit India Movement - Legacy & Importance

Guests:

1. Rajvir Sharma, RSS Thinker;
2. Sucheta Mahajan, Professor, JNU;
3. John Dayal, Writer & Social Activist;
4. Rajiv Vora, President, Swaraj Peeth Trust.

The vision of Mahatma Gandhi when he launched Quit India Movement in August 1942.

• “In the democracy which I have been envisaged, a democracy established by non-violence there will be equal freedom for all, everybody will be his own master, it is to join a struggle for such democracy that I invite here today.”

Background

• India’s battle against British lead was a long-drawn fight creating since the mid-twentieth century particularly under Mahatma Gandhi.
• At different stages, the development saw itself increasing higher energy, for example, the non-cooperation and civil disobedience movement of 1920-22 and 1930-32.
• Notwithstanding, the one call that pushed India towards its definitive opportunity called was an agitator cry of the congress between early August 1942 and September 1944.
• Quit India Movement, a watershed event in Indian history, was a radical cry in August 1942 and a call that pushed India to its definitive freedom.

Quit India Movement

• In 1942, Gandhi gave a call for Quit India and today we have to give a call for Quit India from narrow-mindedness, poverty and neediness, Communalism, joblessness, segregation and discrimination, and treachery with the feeling of responsibility.
• The Quit India Resolution taken by Mahatma Gandhi at the Gwalior tank Maidan in Bombay, was by far the strongest & most vociferous appeal made by the Congress asking that the British leave India once and for all.
• Gandhi’s objective of Do or Die mixed the majority with the vitality of its own.
• It was an all India Movement.
• The movement was strongest in Bihar followed by U.P. and Maharashtra
• Students’ agitation and peasant movements in Bihar made it a strong movement in Bihar.
• Jaiprakash Narayan was a very active leader in Bihar where he formed ‘Azad Dasta’ in the terrains of Nepal and trained them in guerrilla warfare.
• Although this movement theoretically was led by Gandhi but in practice, it was in the hands of revolutionaries and the local leaders.
• There was a change in the stance of Gandhi during this movement. He did not advocate violence but he did not condemn it also.
• Gandhi did not stop the movement due to violence activities as he did in noncooperation
• Around 92000 people were arrested by the government. In its last stage, the movement became an underground movement during which revolutionaries started planning secret operations.
• Hindu Mahasabha leaders did not participate in Quit India Movement as their agenda was Religion specific whereas Congress was a Secular Party.
• The government lifted the ban on the Communist party in 1942 which it had enforced in 1934.
• The government banned Congress party in 1942 because of its anti-British
• Communists did not join Quit India Movement as the movement was against  English which was a partner of Russia but Communists did not help British in suppressing the movement.
• The government used maximum force to suppress this movement which includes aircraft and machine guns.

Importance of this Movement

• There was an institutional breakdown in this movement.
• This movement is considered to be the turning point in Indian History
• The British hopes of ruling India for 100 years more was crushed due to this movement.

75 years from QIM, where does India stand now? Question about Gandhi’s vision being still intact?

• The minute in 1942 was amidst the Second World War with its effect additionally reflected inside India.
• Mahatma Gandhi set out the ethical rule for fighting for the India of equality, with peace & non-violence as a weapon which remains constant even today.
• His vision doesn’t appear to work in the climate of narrow-mindedness and governmental issues of disdain which additionally is invading the nation consistently.
• The Quit India Movement was primarily focused on the British leaving India, but it also aimed to address issues such as social inequality, caste discrimination, and untouchability. While these problems still exist today, they are not limited to just the British presence in India.
• Alongside Non-Violence, the Quit India Movement was tied in with empowering India’s more prominent interest in the war for peace in the war for freedom from Fascism and Nazism and behind it was a want and assurance to be the piece of the nation’s getting autonomous from the colonial rule with a dream of Asian solidarity, be it Indonesia, Burma or any Asian or African Country.
• The constitution of India is comprehensive in nature particularly for equality and justice, however in most recent 75 years, the gap has been augmented and the truth is different.
• The establishment of scorn and segregation and social clashes is set down, in light of the fact that government issues has turned into the need and has surpassed the ethics of the administration.
• The solution can be comprehensive popular government (inclusive democracy) and a dream of peacefulness in the realm of war and prejudice.

Has the idea of Nationalism and patriotism changed over the last 75 years? And can we keep it alive today?

• Quit India development was likewise guided by patriots with the vision of Do or Die which was fundamentally established in the feeling of patriotism.
• Patriotism is an adoration for the nation, a feeling of sacrifice for the nation if the need emerges.
• There was the supposition of solidarity among every section of India and all were battling for a solitary thought and had something regular to take a stab at broadly.
• Patriotism today is the beliefs of the single sectoral areas of the general public as indicated by their energy and position that they have gained over recent years as an offspring of the British Empire.
• The society is divided in the name of unity, partitioning the possibility of one India into the sectoral and sectional interests.
• We should look the general population from the perspective of the person and not through the position or religion.
• The values of liberty and freedom ought not to abrogate the values of sovereignty and integrity and the solidarity of the general public and country too.

Conclusion

• As his descendants, we have to learn and comprehend the basic principles of Gandhi at a scholarly level, battling against innovation and custom and keep rediscovering ourselves.
• In 1942 he gave a call for Quit India and today we have to give a call for Quit India from prejudice, destitution, Communalism, unemployment, discrimination, and injustice with the sense of commitment.