The Quit India Movement or the India August Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942, demanding an end to British Rule of India.
Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. On August 9, a crowd gathered at Gowalia Tank Maidan and Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the Indian flag. The Government issued an order banning public processions, meetings and assemblies.
Even though the people staged various protests across the country, none of it was violent. The people followed his vision to the letter. The crowd observed non violence when protesting even as the British pelted hard bows to curb the peaceful protest. There is a reason why the people went out of their way to protest: This was Ghandi’s vision, in his own words: “In the democracy which I have 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 you today.”
Gandhi was subsequently arrested. Once the arrests became known, people began to rise against the British in a civil rebellion that saw the administration collapse in many parts. Though Gandhi had called for a non-violent struggle, crowds destroyed railway and telegraph lines, looted banks and treasuries, and set police stations and other government buildings on fire.
The movement also showed the British that their hold on India was weakening and that they began to explore options to quit the country.
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