India had been grappling under the British Raj for nearly two centuries when the British government declared that India was at war with Germany without any political leader actually being consulted. When the Congress did not support the deal, Britain said they would simply turn to, and empower the Muslim League. However, by 1942, the then Prime Minister Churchill felt enough pressure to send Sir Stafford Cripps to discuss a change to India's political status. On learning that Cripps wasn't offering full independence, both Congress and the Muslim League rejected his proposal.
This led Mahatma Gandhi open to harnessing a wave of anti-British sentiment which would come to be known as the Quit India Movement. Subsequently, on August 8, 1942, made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered in Mumbai at the Gowalia Tank Maidan. Here are 5 quotes from Mahatma Gandhi's famed Quit India speech to revisit.
“Ours is not a drive for power, but purely a non-violent fight for India’s independence.”
“A non-violent soldier of freedom will covet nothing for himself, he fights only for the freedom of his country.”
“Here is a mantra, a short one that I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The mantra is: ‘Do or Die’. We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery.”
“You have to stand against the whole world although you may have to stand alone. You have to stare in the face the whole world although the world may look at you with bloodshot eyes. Do not fear. Trust the little voice residing within your heart.”
“Forsake friends, wife and all; but testify to that for which you have lived and for which you have to die. I want to live my full span of life. And for me I put my span of life at 120 years. By that time India will be free, the world will be free.”
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