Page 85 - SST Class 08

The British government did not agree to this
demand. Lord Linlithgow , the then Viceroy of
India, only said that the government would
consult all political parties and native rulers at the
end of the war and only then any changes to the
Government of India Act, 1935 would be made.
The Congress ministries, therefore, resigned in
protest in late 1939.
Destruction of Berlin during Second World War
Info Bits
Info Bits
The Second World War was the deadliest war that
mankind has ever seen. It was fought from 1939 to
1945.
Role of Communal Parties
A communal party is the one which cares for the
selfish interests of its people, without caring for
the greater good of the country as a whole. The
Muslim League was the major communal party in
India. Other parties included the Hindu
Mahasabha and Akali Dal. The demands raised by
these communal parties gave an excuse to the
British to postpone India’s independence.
The Muslim League even stated that the Hindus
and the Muslims were two distinct peoples and
advocated a two-nation theory. Muhammad Ali
Jinnah put forward this demand. He demanded a
separate nation of Pakistan for the Muslims. The
British too encouraged Muslim communalism in
order to weaken the national movement for
freedom.
Individual Satyagraha
To protest against the entry of India into the War,
Gandhiji launched the Individual Satyagraha. It
was limited in scale. He also raised the demands
for freedom of speech and other rights. A large
number of people were arrested. The police
lodged more than 25,000 people in jails. Some of
the imprisoned leaders were C. Rajagopalachari,
N.V. Gadgil, Aruna Asaf Ali, Sarojini Naidu, Mian
Iftikhar-ud-din, Vinoba Bhave, G.V. Mavalankar,
Srikrishna Sinha and many others.
C. Rajagopalachari Aruna Asaf Ali Vinoba Bhave
Cripps Mission (1942)
During the Second World War, Japan was
advancing towards India. So it was necessary for
the British government to seek the cooperation of
Indian leaders in its war effort. So, it sent a
mission to India headed Sir Stafford Cripps , a
British minister. This mission is called the Cripps
Mission . Two chief proposals of the Mission were
the granting of dominion status
to India and the princely states
would have the right to choose
whether to join the Indian
Union or not. The Mission also
accepted the demand for
Pakistan, though not directly. Stafford Cripps
The Congress leaders described the proposals as a
post-dated cheque drawn on a crashing bank and
rejected it. The Muslim League too rejected it
because its demand for Pakistan had not been
directly accepted. So, now the national movement
for freedom was started even more vigorously.
Quit India Movement (1942)
By this time, Japan had already occupied Burma
and was advancing towards India. The Indian
leaders felt that Japan was threatening to invade
India only because of the presence of the British.
Gandhiji wrote in the Harijan on 10 May, 1942 :
“The presence of the British in India is an
invitation to Japan to invade India. Their
withdrawal removes that bait.” Besides, the war
period had caused a lot of problems to the Indian
Nationalist Movement (1919-1947)
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