Which among the following statements is correct about the ‘Quit India Movement’?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → “Quit India” was genuinely a mass movement, led by hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians
The “Quit India” campaign began in August 1942, after the failure of the Cripps Mission. Gandhiji was jailed at once, but younger activists organised strikes and acts of sabotage all over the country, and the British took more than a year to suppress it. It was genuinely a mass movement that brought hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians into it, the young above all.
The other options are false: the Cripps Mission had failed, Gandhiji was arrested at once, and while the Congress leaders were in jail, Jinnah and his colleagues worked patiently at expanding the influence of the Muslim League, not the movement.
NCERT (2025-26): “4. Quit India … After the failure of the Cripps Mission, Mahatma Gandhi decided to launch his third major movement against British rule. This was the ‘Quit India’ campaign, which began in August 1942. Although Gandhiji was jailed at once, younger activists organised strikes and acts of sabotage all over the country. Particularly active in the underground resistance were socialist members of the Congress, such as Jayaprakash Narayan. In several districts, such as Satara in the west and Medinipur in the east, ‘independent’ governments were proclaimed. The British responded with much force, yet it took more than a year to suppress the rebellion. ‘Quit India’ was genuinely a mass movement, bringing into its ambit hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians. It especially energised the young who, in very large numbers, left their colleges to go to jail. However, while the Congress leaders languished in jail, Jinnah and his colleagues in the Muslim League worked patiently at expanding their influence. It was in these years that the League began to make a mark in the Punjab and Sind, provinces where it had previously had scarcely any presence.…” |