Quit India speech

The Quit India speech was given by Mahatma Gandhi on the eve of the Quit India movement, August 8, 1942. His address was issued shortly before midnight at the Gowalia Tank Maidan park in Bombay (present-day Mumbai), which has since been renamed August Kranti Maidan (August Revolution Ground). The speech was given in support of Indian independence and the end of British colonial rule. He called for determined, but passive resistance and civil disobedience based on the principles of satyagraha ("truthful request") that signified the certitude that Gandhi foresaw for the movement, best described by his call to "Do or Die". However, the movement did not end on a high note, since in less than twenty-four hours after giving his speech, Gandhi and almost the entire Indian National Congress leadership were imprisoned by the British colonial government under the grounds of the Defense of India Act. A greater number of Congress leaders would spend the rest of the war in jail. The Quit India speech is commonly referred to as the unifying call to action in pursuit of Indian independence during WWII-wartime India. Background In August 1942, Indian politician and social activist, Mahatma Gandhi, was a central figure to the Quit India campaign. He was the leader of the Indian National Congress, and the Quit India campaign was a national protest movement based on "satyagraha" (truthful request) that called for an end to British colonial rule in India and the establishment of Indian sovereignty through nonviolent resistance and peaceful violation of laws. The growth of the movement was largely driven by discontent with British colonial rule after the East India Company's territories in India was transferred to Crown control in 1858, ultimately, culminating in a struggle between Indian independence activists and the British colonial authorities and leading to the Quit India Movement of 1942.