<P> The Quit India Movement (Bharat Chhodo Andolan) or the August Movement was a civil disobedience movement in India which commenced on 8 August 1942 in response to Gandhi's call for immediate self - rule by Indians and against sending Indians to World War II . He asked all teachers to leave their schools, and other Indians to leave their respective jobs and take part in this movement . Due to Gandhi's political influence, his request was followed by a massive proportion of the population . In addition, the INC led the Quit India Movement to demand the British to leave India and to transfer the political power to INC . </P> <P> During the movement, Gandhi and his followers continued to use non-violence against British rule . This movement was where Gandhi gave his famous message, "Do or Die!", and this message spread towards the Indian community . In addition, this movement was addressed directly to women as "disciplined soldiers of Indian freedom" and they had to keep the war for independence to go on (against British rule). </P> <P> At the outbreak of war, the Congress Party had during the Wardha meeting of the working - committee in September 1939, passed a resolution conditionally supporting the fight against fascism, but were rebuffed when they asked for self - rule in return . In March 1942, faced with an increasingly dissatisfied sub-continent only reluctantly participating in the war, and deteriorations in the war situation in Europe and South East Asia, and with growing dissatisfactions among Indian troops - especially in Europe - and among the civilian population in the sub-continent, the British government sent a delegation to India under Stafford Cripps, in what came to be known as the Cripps' Mission . The purpose of the mission was to negotiate with the Indian National Congress a deal to obtain total co-operation during the war, in return of progressive devolution and distribution of power from the crown and the Viceroy to elected Indian legislature . However, the talks failed, having failed to address the key demand of a timeframe towards self - government, and of definition of the powers to be relinquished, essentially portraying an offer of limited dominion - status that was wholly unacceptable to the Indian movement . To force the British Raj to meet its demands and to obtain definitive word on total self - rule, the Congress took the decision to launch the Quit India Movement . </P> <P> The aim of the movement was to force the British Government to the negotiating table by holding the Allied war effort hostage . The call for determined but passive resistance that signified the certitude that Gandhi foresaw for the movement is best described by his call to Do or Die, issued on 8 August at the Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay, since renamed August Kranti Maidan (August Revolution Ground). However, almost the entire Congress leadership, and not merely at the national level, was put into confinement less than 24 hours after Gandhi's speech, and the greater number of the Congress khiland were to spend the rest of the war in jail . </P>

Information on important leaders of indian freedom movement