General Elections as required by Government of India Act 1935
Madras, Central Provinces, Bihar, Orissa, United Provinces, Bombay Presidency, Assam, NWFP, Bengal, Punjab, and Sindh were the eleven provinces where elections were held.
The Indian National Congress gained control of eight of the provinces, with the exceptions of Punjab and Sindh.
The All-India Muslim League was unable to form a government in any of the provinces.
In 1939, the Congress ministries resigned in protest of Viceroy Lord Linlithgow’s decision to declare India a belligerent in World War II without consulting the Indian people.
Formation of Forward Bloc (1939)
Subhas Chandra Bose after resigning as President of the Congress in 1939, established Forward Bloc as a radical faction within the framework of the Congress.
The goal of the new party, he stated, was to “rally all radical and anti-imperialist progressive elements in the country on the basis of a minimum programme representing the greatest common measure of agreement among radicals of all shades of opinion.”
He hoped, however, that all radicals, including socialists, communists, and Kisan Sabhaits, would respond to his call.
August Offer (1940)
The British government proposed dominion status as an objective for India.
Following the war, a representative Indian body would be formed to draft a constitution for the country.
The Viceroy’s Council would be extended, allowing more Indians to participate than whites.
An advising war council would be constituted after the war.
Individual Satyagraha (1940-41)
Individual satyagraha was chosen over mass movement because it was possible that a mass movement would devolve into violence.
Instead Gandhiji relied on individual Satyagraha to assert the right to free expression.
The first satyagrahi, Acharya Vinoba Bhave, was imprisoned after delivering a speech against the war. Jawahar Lal Nehru was the second Satyagrahi, and Brahma Datt, a Gandhi Ashram inmate, was the third. They were all imprisoned.
Cripps Mission (1942)
There would be the formation of an Indian union with Dominion status.
That Indian union would be free to choose its relations with the Commonwealth and international organisations such as the United Nations.
The Indian defence sector was to be under British control.
The governor general’s powers were preserved.
A constituent assembly was formed to draft a new constitution, and it was to be partly elected by provincial assemblies and partly nominated by the Princes.
The British government would accept the new constitution under two conditions:
any province unwilling to join the Union could have its own constitution and form its own Union, and
the new constitution-making body and the British government would negotiate a treaty to effect the transfer of power and to protect racial and religious minorities.
Quit India Movement, 1942
The Congress Working Committee met in Wardha in July 1942 and passed a resolution demanding the immediate end of British rule in India. This is known as the “Quit India Resolution.”
A nonviolent mass struggle led by Gandhi was sanctioned in the Gowalia Tank Maidan, which became known as August Kranti Maidan later on. Gandhi delivered the famous “do or die” speech on August 8th.
The government began arresting Congress leaders and, within a week, had imprisoned the majority of them, including Gandhi.
The arrests of key leaders sparked a spontaneous outburst of mass rage and widespread unrest in Bombay, Ahmadabad, Poona, and Delhi, among other places.
Although it began as a nonviolent movement, there was widespread violence.
