So far, we have read about the internal crisis in the Indian National Congress at the Tripuri Session of 1939. After this Subhash Chandra Bose left Congress but continued his fight for freedom against the Sarkar (British Government).
Britain, on the other hand, was in trouble due to World War II. So, many provisions came during this period from Britain to pacify Nationalistic activities in India. As Indian leaders rejected the terms of the August Offer so in response to this they came out with the Individual Satyagraha.
Individual Satyagraha
Gandhi decided that he would not lead the movement. He asked people to come for the Individual Satyagraha. Individual Satyagraha was launched to affirm the right to speech. The aim of launching Individual Satyagraha was not to seek only complete independence but to show that nationalist patience is not their weakness.
Nationalist leaders used non-violent methods to show their protest during this Satyagraha. Congress Ministers resigned from their provinces. Actually, Indians after having 28 months of Government realised their own powers. They got a practical taste of the administration so they did not want to face suppression and exploitation from the imperialistic government.
The Satyagraha lasted for 12 months. On 3rd December 1941 due to the fear of Japanese influence in India, British Government ordered to arrest of all the Satyagrahis. Subhash Chandra Bose with the help of Japanese Forces and the South-East Asian States of Malaysia, Singapore etc, formed Indian National Army. So, to pacify all these nationalist activities, the Britishers again came out with one other mission. It was Cripps Mission.
Cripps Mission
In March 1942, Cripps Mission came to India. It was led by Stafford Cripps. The Mission asked Indians to support them in World War II. The mission came out with certain provisions such as,
- An Indian union with Dominion status was proposed. But Indian Nationalist Leaders strongly opposed the Cripps Mission. They were not in the mood to compromise with their demand for total independence.
- Indians would be allowed to make their constitution as per their will after World War II.
- Any province which would not like to adopt the constitution can have their own constitution and can have its autonomy.
- The defence area would remain in the hands of the British Government and Governor would have the same power as before.
Muslim League was ready to accept all the provisions except the provision of the Indian Union, they were strongly in the favour of the Partition of India. But Nationalists were not ready to accept all these pseudo provisions. This created conflict between Muslim League and Congress-Nationalist leaders.
This created trouble for the British Government. The fire of the freedom movement became an erupting volcano in the form of the Quit India Movement. All sections of the society came forward to participate in the Quit India Movement.
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