The major 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.

Ultimately, the British government realised that India was ungovernable in the long run, and the issue for the postwar era became how to exit gracefully and peacefully.

Martyrs of this freedom movement include Mukunda Kakati, Matangini Hazra, Kanaklata Barua, Kushal Konwar, Bhogeswari Phukanani and others.

[13]Gandhi had not supported this initiative, as he could not reconcile an endorsement for war (he was a committed believer in non-violent resistance, used in the Indian Independence Movement and proposed even against Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, and Hideki Tojo).

The long-term British policy of limiting investment in India and using the country as a market and source of revenue had left the Indian Army relatively weak and poorly armed and trained and forced the British to become net contributors to India's budget, while taxes were sharply increased and the general level of prices doubled: although many Indian businesses benefited from increased war production, in general business "felt rebuffed by the government" and in particular the refusal of the British Raj to give Indians a greater role in organising and mobilising the economy for wartime production.

In his telegram to Winston Churchill on 31 August he noted: I am engaged here in meeting by far the most serious rebellion since that of 1857, the gravity and extent of which we have so far concealed from the world for reasons of military security.

Mob violence remains rampant over large tracts of the countryside and I am by no means confident that we may not see in September a formidable attempt to renew this widespread sabotage of our war effort.

The talks failed, as they did not address the key demand of a timetable of self-government and of the powers to be relinquished, essentially making an offer of limited dominion-status that was unacceptable to the Indian movement.

Following this declaration, the Congress Working Committee at its meeting on 10 October 1939, passed a resolution condemning the aggressive activities of the Germans.

Responding to this declaration, the Viceroy issued a statement on 17 October wherein he claimed that Britain was waging a war driven with the intention of strengthening peace in the world.

Anti-war speeches ricocheted in all corners of the country, with the satyagrahis earnestly appealing to the people of the nation not to support the government in its war endeavours.

In Europe the war situation became more critical with the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Congress realised the necessity for appraising their program.

In order to end the deadlock on 22 March 1942, the British government sent Sir Stafford Cripps to talk terms with the Indian political parties and secure their support in Britain's war efforts.

The Congress Working Committee meeting at Wardha (14 July 1942) adopted a resolution demanding complete independence from the British government.

The Congress should first concede openheartedly and with handshake to Muslim League the theoretical Pakistan, and thereafter all parties unitedly make demand of Quit India.

[23] Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the president of the Hindu Mahasabha at that time, even went to the extent of writing a letter titled Stick to your Posts, in which he instructed Hindu Sabhaites who happened to be "members of municipalities, local bodies, legislatures or those serving in the army... to stick to their posts" across the country, and not to join the Quit India Movement at any cost.

Following the Hindu Mahasabha's official decision to boycott the Quit India movement,[23] Syama Prasad Mukherjee, leader of the Hindu Mahasabha in Bengal, (which was a part of the ruling coalition in Bengal led by Krishak Praja Party of Fazlul Haq), wrote a letter to the British Government as to how they should respond, if the Congress gave a call to the British rulers to quit India.

In this letter, dated 26 July 1942 he wrote:Let me now refer to the situation that may be created in the province as a result of any widespread movement launched by the Congress.

Anybody, who during the war, plans to stir up mass feeling, resulting internal disturbances or insecurity, must be resisted by any Government that may function for the time being.

[32] According to John F. Riddick, from 9 August 1942 to 21 September 1942, the Quit India Movement: At the national level the lack of leadership meant the ability to galvanise rebellion was limited.

People overthrew the district administration, broke open the jail, released the arrested Congress leaders and established their own independent rule.

Of special importance in Saurashtra (in western Gujarat) was the role of the region's 'baharvatiya' tradition (i.e. going outside the law) which abetted the sabotage activities of the movement there.

[36] In rural west Bengal, the Quit India Movement was fuelled by peasants' resentment against the new war taxes and the forced rice exports.

Due to the arrest of major leaders, a young and until then relatively unknown Aruna Asaf Ali presided over the AICC session on 9 August and hoisted the flag; later the Congress party was banned.

At some places bombs exploded, government buildings were set on fire, electricity was cut, and transport and communication lines were severed.

Many national leaders went underground and continued their struggle by broadcasting messages over the clandestine radio stations, distributing pamphlets and establishing parallel governments.

The British sense of crisis was strong enough for a battleship to be specifically set aside to take Gandhi and the Congress leaders out of India, possibly to South Africa or Yemen.

[39] Leadership of the underground movement included names like Achyut Rao Patwardhan, Aruna Asaf Ali, Sucheta Kripalani, Daljit Singh and Nana Patil.

In 1945, when World War II had almost come to an end, the Labour Party of the United Kingdom won elections with a promise to provide independence to India.