280 / 822
*
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:
“Do or Die "
Karenge ya Marenge
*
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.”
Eternal India
encyclopedia
FREEDOM MOVEMENT
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.”
12 - Point Programme for Quit India
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....