Mahatma Gandhi's - Quit India - 1942

 

Mahatma Gandhi's "Quit India" speech was delivered on August 8, 1942, at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Mumbai, India. The speech was a call to the British colonial rulers to leave India and give the country its independence.

In his speech, Gandhi declared that India must be free and that the people of India would use non-violent resistance to achieve their goal. He said, "We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery."

Gandhi also called on the people of India to join the Quit India movement, which aimed to bring about an end to British rule through mass civil disobedience. He said, "Every Indian who desires freedom and strives for it must be prepared to face privation and suffering."

The "Quit India" speech marked a turning point in India's struggle for independence, as it galvanized the Indian people and led to widespread protests and civil disobedience. However, it also led to a harsh crackdown by the British colonial government, with many Indian leaders arrested and the movement suppressed. Despite this, the speech is remembered as a powerful statement of Gandhi's commitment to non-violent resistance and his vision of a free and independent India. - with chatGPT

 

 

- Full Text -

"Before you discuss the resolution, let me place before you one or two things, I want you to understand two things very clearly and to consider them from the same point of view from which I am placing them before you. I ask you to consider it from my point of view, because if you approve of it, you will be enjoined to carry out all I say. It will be a great responsibility. There are people who ask me whether I am the same man that I was in 1920, or whether there has been any change in me. You are right in asking that question.

Let me, however, hasten to assure that I am the same Gandhi as I was in 1920. I have not changed in any fundamental respect. I attach the same importance to non-violence that I did then. If at all, my emphasis on it has grown stronger. There is no real contradiction between the present resolution and my previous writings and utterances.

Occasions like the present do not occur in everybody’s and but rarely in anybody’s life. I want you to know and feel that there is nothing but purest Ahimsa in all that I am saying and doing today. The draft resolution of the Working Committee is based on Ahimsa, the contemplated struggle similarly has its roots in Ahimsa. If, therefore, there is any among you who has lost faith in Ahimsa or is wearied of it, let him not vote for this resolution.

Let me explain my position clearly. God has vouchsafed to me a priceless gift in the weapon of Ahimsa. I and my Ahimsa are on our trail today. If in the present crisis, when the earth is being scorched by the flames of Himsa and crying for deliverance, I failed to make use of the God given talent, God will not forgive me and I shall be judged unworthy of the great gift. I must act now. I may not hesitate and merely look on, when Russia and China are threatened.

Ours is not a drive for power, but purely a non-violent fight for India’s independence. In a violent struggle, a successful general has been often known to effect a military coup and to set up a dictatorship. But under the Congress scheme of things, essentially non-violent as it is, there can be no room for dictatorship. A non-violent soldier of freedom will covet nothing for himself, he fights only for the freedom of his country. The Congress is unconcerned as to who will rule, when freedom is attained. The power, when it comes, will belong to the people of India, and it will be for them to decide to whom it placed in the entrusted. May be a popular Government; may be a Government based on adult franchise.

We have a message for the world also. We have a message to the millions of downtrodden people of the world, to those who are downtrodden because they are poor, to those who are downtrodden because they are held in contempt. We have a message for them also. It is not to be a message of despair. It is not to be a message of darkness. It is to be a message of hope, it is to be a message of light, because we believe in India and we believe in her people.

I have already told you that I am but a humble seeker after truth. I cannot claim to be a scientist, a soldier, a statesman, or a poet. All I can claim to be is a servant and a son of India, and I feel proud of this service and of this sonship. I am impatient of seeing our people suffocating within the four walls of oppression and suffering, and I am impatient of being told that I should be content with what little I have, and with my position of servitude.

We are the children of God and have the right to a world which is fit for habitation by the children of God. That is why we have to struggle. We have to struggle to rise above the narrow confines of our individualistic concerns to the broader concerns of all humanity. We have to struggle for a world in which every individual can live in dignity and freedom and hope.

This struggle may not succeed immediately, but we shall see the light when the struggle has begun. We may not see it in our lifetime, but we shall see it in the lifetime of our children and our children's children. The future is with those who fight for the ideals of truth, of love, and of freedom.

Therefore, I call upon you to join the struggle for India’s independence. You have to be prepared for any sacrifice that may be demanded of you. You may have to go to jail or to die in the struggle, but your sacrifice will be the best nourishment for the coming generation.

I have no doubt in my mind that we shall win. But the road is long, and the going will be tough. But the struggle is our responsibility, and the victory is in God’s hands."

I hope that helps!



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