Second World War, Quit India, the INA and independence (1935 to 1947)

The Act of 1935 and the 1937 elections

The Government of India Act was passed on 2 August 1935. It proposed an All India Federation of the British provinces and the princely states. The provinces had to join; the princely states could choose. Members from the provinces were to be elected, but the princes would nominate theirs. Only about 14 percent of the people of British India could vote, and the legislature had no control over defence and foreign affairs. Nationalists condemned the Act, yet the Congress fought the 1937 elections to resist it from within. It formed ministries in seven of the eleven provinces. These ministries freed political prisoners, widened civil liberties and passed laws that eased the burden on peasants.

Timeline: 1939 to 1947

1. 1939
   The Second World War breaks out. The Congress refuses to cooperate unless India is declared independent. When the British refuse, the Congress ministries resign.
2. 1940
   Viceroy Lord Linlithgow rejects a demand for a provisional national government. In October the individual satyagraha begins; Vinoba Bhave is the first satyagrahi.
3. March 1942
   The Cripps Mission offers dominion status after the war, not full independence. The Congress and the Muslim League both reject it.
4. 8 August 1942★
   At Bombay the Congress passes the Quit India resolution, and Gandhi gives the mantra 'Do or Die'.
5. 1943
   Subhas Chandra Bose reaches East Asia and leads the Indian National Army.
6. 1946
   The Cabinet Mission proposes a federal plan, and elections to the Constituent Assembly are held. The League later rejects the plan and marks Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946, followed by communal riots. In September the Congress forms an interim government at the Centre.
7. June 1947
   Viceroy Lord Mountbatten puts forward his plan, which includes partition. The parties accept it, though Gandhi strongly opposes partition.
8. 15 August 1947★
   Under the Indian Independence Act, 1947, India and Pakistan become two independent states. India is free.

★ key step

The Quit India Movement (1942)

• Why: the failure of the Cripps Mission, wartime shortages, rising unemployment and the danger of a Japanese attack. Gandhi felt that the British presence in India invited Japan to invade.
• The call: the Congress Working Committee passed the resolution at Wardha on 14 July 1942, and the Bombay session approved it on 8 August 1942. Gandhi asked for freedom at once, with the mantra Do or Die.
• Repression: before dawn on 9 August 1942 all the main Congress leaders were arrested. The Congress was banned and the press was censored.
• The people's rising: with leaders in jail, people held hartals, processions and demonstrations. They burnt police stations, post offices and government buildings, and cut railway and telegraph lines.
• Strongholds: the revolt took a serious turn in Ballia (Uttar Pradesh), Midnapore (Bengal) and Satara (Bombay Presidency).
• Importance: it showed the depth of national feeling and people's readiness for sacrifice. After it, independence was no longer a matter of bargaining but a certainty.

Subhas Chandra Bose and the INA

• Placed under house arrest in 1940, Bose escaped in 1941 and reached Berlin. Indians there hailed him as Netaji (leader) and greeted him with 'Jai Hind' (salute to the motherland).
• In 1942 the Indian Independence League was formed in East Asia, and it was decided to raise the Indian National Army (INA) to free India.
• At Rash Behari Bose's invitation, Subhas Chandra Bose came to East Asia in 1943. He became president of the League and leader of the INA, the Azad Hind Fauj.
• He gave the battle cry 'Chalo Dilli' (on to Delhi) and the promise: give me blood and I will give you freedom.
• In March 1944 the INA joined the Japanese push towards Imphal and Kohima in north-east India. On 14 April 1944 it raised its flag at Moirang in Manipur, on Indian soil. Your NIOS lesson says the flag was hoisted at Kohima in March 1944; most histories name Moirang.
• The campaign then collapsed. Bose is said to have died in an air crash in August 1945, but this was never fully established. The INA's patriotism inspired the whole country.

Why India was partitioned

• The communal divide sown by divide and rule. Separate electorates, given to Muslims in 1909, were extended in 1919 to Sikhs, Europeans, Anglo-Indians and Indian Christians. The Communal Award of 1932 offered them to the depressed classes too, and the Act of 1935 set up seventeen separate electorates.
• The two-nation theory, the claim that Hindus and Muslims were two separate nations, was put forward in 1938, and Jinnah stated it clearly in 1940. The Muslim League then demanded a separate nation for Muslims, Pakistan. Your lesson names the Congress's refusal to form coalition ministries with the League after the 1937 elections as the immediate cause of this demand.
• No agreement between the Congress and the League, for example over the powers of the Constituent Assembly under the Cabinet Mission plan.
• Direct Action Day (16 August 1946) and the riots that followed, which killed thousands and made lakhs homeless.
• The Mountbatten Plan of June 1947, accepted by the parties as a necessary evil, to end the violence and transfer power quickly.

Activity: a timeline of the Congress, 1885 to 1947

Draw a long line across a chart, mark these years on it, and paste a picture beside each with a one-line caption.

1. 1885
   Indian National Congress founded; first president Womesh Chandra Banerjee.
2. 1905 to 1907
   Swadeshi movement against the partition of Bengal; Congress splits in 1907.
3. 1916
   Moderates and radicals reunite at Lucknow; Lucknow Pact with the Muslim League.
4. 1920
   Non-Cooperation Movement begins.
5. 1929
   Lahore session demands Purna Swaraj.
6. 1930
   Dandi March and Civil Disobedience.
7. 1937
   Congress ministries in seven provinces.
8. 1942
   Quit India Movement.
9. 1947★
   Independence on 15 August.

★ key step