The
Quit India Movement ( ), or the
India August Movement (
August Kranti), was a
civil disobedience movement launched by
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi on 8 August 1942, during
World War II, demanding an end to
British Rule of India. The
Cripps Mission had failed, and on 8 August 1942, Gandhi made a call to
Do or Die in his
Quit India speech delivered in Mumbai at the
Gowalia Tank Maidan. The
All-India Congress Committee launched a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called "An Orderly British Withdrawal" from India. Even though it was wartime, the British were prepared to act. Almost the entire leadership of the
INC was imprisoned without trial within hours of
Gandhi's speech. Most spent the rest of the war in prison and out of contact with the masses. The British had the support of the
Viceroy's Council (which had a majority of Indians), of the
All India Muslim League, the
Communist Party, the princely states, the
Indian Imperial Police, the
British Indian Army and the
Indian Civil Service. Many Indian businessmen profiting from heavy wartime spending did not support Quit India. Many students paid more attention to
Subhas Chandra Bose, who was in exile and supporting the
Axis Powers. The only outside support came from the Americans, as President
Franklin D. Roosevelt pressured Prime Minister
Winston Churchill to give in to some of the Indian demands. The Quit India campaign was effectively crushed. The British refused to grant immediate independence, saying it could happen only after the war against the Axis powers had ended.