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Secondary sourceDocument8 August 1942

Quit India Resolution

All India Congress Committee · 8 August 1942

A 1942 resolution by the All India Congress Committee, drafted under Gandhi's lead, demanding immediate British withdrawal from India.

Gandhi led the drafting of this resolution, which triggered the Quit India movement and his own imprisonment.

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Postage stamp of India, value 50, showing a painted scene of men seated around a wooden desk under the Indian flag, with a man in a white dhoti reclining on a bed-like seat. Text reads in Hindi and English: AICC Quit India Resolution August 1942.
Postage stamp commemorating the AICC Quit India Resolution, August 1942. India Post.

About this source

What it is

This is the resolution passed by the All India Congress Committee on 8 August 1942, demanding that Britain immediately leave India and approving mass civil disobedience if it refused. The image here is a postage stamp issued by India showing a painted scene of the Congress Committee meeting to pass the resolution.

Why it matters

The Quit India resolution was drafted under Gandhi's leadership and launched the largest and most intense phase of the independence movement. It led to the mass arrest of Congress leaders, including Gandhi, who spent much of the rest of the war in prison.

Look closer

  • Why might the Indian government choose to commemorate this resolution on a postage stamp?
  • What does the painted scene on the stamp choose to show, and what might it leave out about the risks of the decision?
  • Why do you think the resolution called for mass struggle rather than negotiation alone?

This document is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Mahatma Gandhi on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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