81 st Anniversary of Quit India Movement

 Sevagram Ashram  and  the Quit India Movement 

Mahama Gandhi addressing the Congress Working Committee , Sevagram July, 1942 

 Many important decisions which determined the destiny of the country were taken from  Gandhi’s ashram  at Seagaon  which he  made as his home from 1936.  This village Segaon was renamed as Sevagram in 1940.  Gandhi was reflecting on a decisive movement  to end British rule in 1942. He was not sure  how the residents of his ashram would  respond to such a call.  On June 18, 1942, he wrote “The Ashram at Sevagram is only so called. The visitors gave it the name and it has passed current. The Ashram is a medley of people come together for different purposes. There are hardly half a dozen permanent residents having a common ideal. How these few will discharge themselves when the test comes remains to be seen.”  In July 1942 the Congress Working Committee met at Sevagram Ashram and the Congress arrived  at a  resolution to  end  the British rule in India under Gandhi's guidance. The resolution passed by  the CWC on July 14, 1942 was drafted by Gandhi and the Working Committee authorized him to take charge of the movement  and regulate it in the manner he may think advisable.  Though the draft was prepared by him it was modified on the basis of discussions to the satisfaction of Pandit   Nehru and  Maulana  Azad. It was not Gandhi who was dictating the terms. In the face of criticism,  he clarified  and  it showed how  in a democratic way  he arrived at the consensus on key issues. He wrote on  July 19, 1942  “It is no use damning me as a dictator like Herr Hitler. He does not argue with his co-workers if he may be said to have any. He merely issues orders which can only be disobeyed on pain of death or worse. I argue with my friends for days. I argued at the last meeting for eight days. The members agreed when their reason was satisfied. My sanction with my friends as well as self-styled enemies has ever been reason and love. It is a travesty of truth therefore to compare me with Hitler or to call me a dictator in any current sense of the term.”

 

In fact Sevagram was the guiding light  or showed the way or path on various issues. Whether it was Quit India or the idea of World federation. In a  letter to  Maurice Frydman Gandhi wrote  on July 28, 1942 “You will misunderstand me. I told you that I was at one with you and that I was trying to take the Congress and everybody towards world federation. I also tell you that if it ever comes it will come through Sevagram or Sevagram way. I want free India too for that purpose. If I can get freedom for India now through non-violent means, power of non-violence is firmly established,Empire idea dissolves and world State takes its place, in which all theStates of the world are free and equal, no State has its military, there may be a world police to keep order in the absence of universal belief in non-violence.   

Gandhi was aware of the repercussions of   his last battle   to end the British Raj.  The instructions  given to the Ashram   residents before his departure to  Bombay  was to equip them  to face any eventuality. He wrote on August 1, 1942 “I am going to Bombay tomorrow. I cannot say what will happen. But I hope to be back by August 11, and in any case not later than August 13. Those who are in the Ashram should know that anything can befall them. It is possible that Government may even stop the supply of our food. Only those therefore should stay herewho are ready to live even on leaves. The rest should leave. It will be a matter of shame for us if they leave after the trouble.” He was going to Bombay  to attend the Bombay session of  AICC where the Quit India Movement was officially launched. In a speech at Gowalia Tank Maidan, (now known as August Kranti Maidan) in Central Bombay on August 8,1942 Mahatma Gandhi  demanded  that the British must leave India immediately  and gave the  clarion call Quit India which literally electrified  the people all over the country. 

 

  

 In his Speech at A.I.C.C. Meeting he said “Here is a mantra, a short one, that I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it.The mantra is: ‘Do or Die.’ We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery. Every true Congressman or [Congress] woman will join the struggle with an inflexible determination not to remain alive to see the country inbondage and slavery. Let that be your pledge. Keep jails out of your consideration. If the Government keep me free, I will spare you the trouble of filling the jails. I will not put on the Government the strain of maintaining a large number of prisoners at a time when it is in trouble. Let every man and woman live every moment of his or her life hereafter in the consciousness that he or she eats or lives for achieving freedom and will die, if need be, to attain that goal. Take a pledge with God and your own conscience as witness, that you will no longer rest till freedom is achieved and will be prepared to lay down your lives in the attempt to achieve it. He who loses his life will gain it; he who will seek to save it shall lose it. Freedom is not for the coward or the faint-hearted.”

 

 

 On the morning of August 9, Gandhi, along with the Working Committee and Congress leaders of Bombay, was taken into custody. In his  Message  to the country from Bombay at  5 a.m., on August 9, 1942 he wrote “Everyone is free to go the fullest length under ahimsa. Complete deadlock by strikes and other non-violent means. Satyagrahis must go out to die not to live. They must seek and face death. It is only when individuals go out to die that the nation will survive. Karenge ya marenge  (We will do or die. )” It should  be remembered that  it was Aruna Asaf Ali  and other fire brand leaders pushing the movement forward while remaining underground  after the arrest of all senior leaders including Gandhi.  After the arrest Gandhi was taken to Aga Khan Palace and the Congress was declared illegal.  

 

Gandhi lost his two soul companions due to the Quit India movement  while serving his prison term in Aga Khan Palace, Pune. The first one was Mahadev Deasi, his companion and secretary who passed  away on August 15, 1942. The second martyr was his wife  Kasturba. She died   on February 22 1944 on Shivaratri day in Aga Khan Palce.  Gandhi moved out of the barbed wire of the palace after 21 months of prison life.Before leaving the detention camp he visited the spot where  the cremation of Mahadev and Kasturba  took place and offered prayers and  flowers in memory of his  soul mates. Again on August 1 Gandhi arrived in Pune on his way to Sevagram. On August 2 before leaving for Sevagram visited the Samadhi of Kasturba and Mahadev Desai. Soon after reaching  Sevagram  he visited Kasturba’s cottage with a heavy heart.  On August 5 he issued a statement on how to commemorate August 9 anniversary and also urged the underground workers to come out openly on that day. On August 9 Sevagram observed the day by fasting, praying. Congressmen were released in the evening.  On the occasion of    the  81 st  Anniversary of  Quit India Movement   Sevagram Ashram pays tributes to the souls who sacrificed their lives for the nation.

 

 

 This note  was prepared by Dr.Siby K Joseph, Director, Sri Jamanlal Bajaj Memorial Library and Research Centre of Sevagram Ashram Pratishthan Wardha, Maharashtra  

Email directorjbmlrc@gmail.com