Quit India Movement and Indian National Army

by Devender

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The Quit India movement was started in 1942 to get Britishers out of India and make India an independent country. The Indian National Army was a revolutionary army under Subhash Chandra Bose to bring an armed revolution freeing India from Britishers.

Quit India Movement

Gandhi started the Quit India Movement because Japan was extending Eastward & Britishers were fleeing from Malaysia & Singapore. He understood that Japan is fascists and will never liberate India, so he launched this movement in-between when Britishers were involved in the second world war. Gandhi also called the Cripps proposals a Post-dated Cheque and in the Bombay session of Congress, he formed a resolution with the following key points:

An immediate end to British rule in India
The commitment of free India to defend itself against all types of Fascism & imperialism
A provisional Government of India after the British withdrawal
A civil disobedience movement against British rule

Gandhi instructed different sections of society. He asked government sections to not resign from their posts but declare their allegiance to congress. He asked soldiers to not resign but also not to fire on their compatriots. He also instructed students to only quit studies if they are confident.

Gandhi asked farmers to pay rent to Zamindars only if they are against the government. He asked princes to support the masses and accept the sovereignty of their people. He instructed the princely state people to support the ruler only if he is anti-government and declare themselves to be a part of the Indian nation.

He gave the slogan of Do or die which meant We shall either free India or, die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery.

However, the government was in no mood to entertain this movement, they didn't even want to negotiate with Congress anymore. So, the government arrested all the top leaders of Congress and put them at separate unknown destinations.

This movement was the final attempt of freeing India as:

A large number of students quit their schools and colleges to join the movement.
The youth of India also participated in the movement aggressively, they carried out strikes, demonstrations, and public meetings. They even did armed attacks on government buildings.
The British government ordered 538 rounds of firing which killed around 7000 people and around 60,229 persons were jailed.
There were no communal crashes during this movement and the people of India learned the feelings of bravery, enthusiasm, and total sacrifice. This movement paved the way for India's freedom.
It established the feeling in Britishers that Indians cannot be ruled without their consent.

Indian National Army

Mohan Singh from Malaya was the one who conceived the idea of the Indian National Army firstly. He was an Indian officer of the British Indian Army who decided to not join the retreating British Army and he leaned towards Japan for help. The Japanese in return handed over Indian prisoners of war to him. He tried to recruit these people in the Indian National army.

After the fall of Singapore in 1942, 45000 more prisoners of war were given to Mohan Singh
Subhash Chandra Bose reached Singapore on 2 July 1943
He gave the rousing war cry of Dilli Chalo there
He was made the president of the Indian Independence League
Soon, he became the supreme commander of the Indian National Army and he gave the slogan of Jai Hind

INA had three brigades which were:

Subhas Brigade
Gandhi Brigade
Nehru Brigade

There was a women's wing too which was named Rani Laxmibai. INA recorded a victory at Kohima after which they moved further towards Imphal but after Japan's surrender in 1945, they were not able to succeed in their efforts.

Under these circumstances, Subhash Chandra Bose went to Taiwan and from there he was on his way to Tokyo where he died in a plane crash on 18 August 1945.

The soldiers of INA were held on trial at Red Fort
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Bhulabhai Desai, Kailash Nath Katju, Asaf Ali & Tej Bahadur Sapru fought the case on behalf of these soldiers

Subhash Chandra Bose

He was born on Jan 23, 1897, at Cuttack
He was popularly known as "Netaji"
He passed the Indian Civil Service examination in 1920 but left it when Gandhi called for the Non-Cooperation movement
Later, he founded the Independence for India League with Jawahar Lal Nehru

He was elected the president of INC in the Haripura session in 1938 and later in 1939 at the Tripuri session but he resigned from the presidency at the Tripuri session due to differences with Gandhi. He was also the founder of forward block which he founded in 1939.

He escaped to Berlin and met Hitler in 1941 and after 2 years in 1943, he took charge of the INA in Singapore where he set up the provisional Indian government.

He gave the war cry of "Dilli Chalo" and addressed Gandhi as Father of the nation
He also gave the slogan of "Jai Hind"
He wrote his autobiography "The Indian Struggle"
He died in a plane crash on 18 August 1945