Q.) Evaluate the role of Bihar in the Quit India movement.

Answer:
On Aug 8, 1942, Mahatma Gandhi gave the call for British Colonists to ‘Quit India’ and for the Indians to
‘do or die’ to make this happen. In the midst of the harshest repression, Bihar played a crucial role in
the struggle.

Quit India Movement (QIM)

● Passing of the Quit India Resolution: The Quit India Resolution (or August Resolution) was
ratified at a Congress meeting at Gowalia tank, Bombay on August 8, 1942 and Gandhiji was
named the leader of the struggle.
● The resolution was proposed by Jawaharlal Nehru and seconded by Sardar Patel.
● The slogan ‘Quit India’ was coined by Yusuf Meherally, a socialist and trade unionist
who had also coined the slogan ‘Simon go back’.

● Top leaders arrested: In the early hours of August 9, 1942, by Operation Zero hour, all the top
leaders of Congress were arrested and taken to unknown destinations.
● The Congress Working Committee, the All India Congress Committee and the Provincial
Congress Committees were declared unlawful associations under the Criminal Law
Amendment Act of 1908.

● Non participation: The Communists did not join the movement, the Muslim League opposed
the movement, the Hindu Mahasabha boycotted the movement and The Princely states showed
a low-key response.

Role Of Bihar In Quit India Movement

After the arrest of mainstream leaders, people were running awoke. The removal of established leaders
left the younger and militant elements to their own initiative. Bihar did not lag behind, and leaders like
Jayaprakash Narayan, Rammahohar Lohia, Aruna Asaf Ali etc came forward to lead the movement.

● Arrest of popular leaders: On 9 August,1942 In Bihar, the district magistrate of Patna
W.G.Archer arrested Rajendra Prasad and sent to Bankipur Jail. In protest of his arrest, the
advocate general Baldev Sahay resigned from his office.

● On 11 August, Shri Krishna Singh, Anugraha Narayan Sinha, and other leaders were also
arrested and sent to jail.

● Flag martyrs: A group of seven students on August 11 marched in order to hoist the National
flag on the east gate of Patna Secretariat. W.G.Archer ordered open fire on them and all seven
students were martyred and about 25 were seriously injured. As a result of this incident, a
widespread protest broke out spontaneously.

Name of Seven martyred :

Name	District	Institution
Jagatpati Kumar	Aurangabad	2nd year student of Bihar National College, Patna
Ramanand Singh	Dhanarua,Patna	Class XI of Ram Mohan Rai Seminary, Patna
Devipad Chaudhary	Silhat, Jamalpur	Class XI of Miller High English School, Patna
Ramgovind Singh	Dasaratha village, Patna	Matric class of Punpun High English school
Rajendra Singh Saran ,	Patna	Matric Class of Patna High English School
Satish Prasad Jha	Bhagalpur	Class XI of Patna collegiate School
Umakant Prasad Sinha aka Raman Ji	Saran	Class XI of Ram Mohan Rai Seminary

● Strikes and protest: There was a complete strike in Patna on August 12. In the evening Jagat
Narayan Lal organised a meeting and decided to cripple the government machinery.
● To paralyse the administration, the agitation uprooted railway lines, torched police
stations, and seized post offices and other government offices. Bihar was in complete
unrest
● In Siwan, Phulan Prasad Varma also marched to hoist the National flag on a police
station, police lathicharged very badly and he was injured heavily and died but his wife
Tara Rani Shrivastwa hoisted the flag.
● Ramesh Chandra Jha from Motihari, at the early age of 14, during the Quit India Movement, attacked a British police post and looted weapons from there.

● Azad Dasta: Jayaprakash Narayan was in Hazaribagh Jail. He escaped from there with Ramanand
Mishra, Suraj Narayan Singh, Gulab Chand Gupta, Shaligram Singh and Yogendra Shukla. They
reached Rajvilas jungle and Bakri ki Tapu and established Azad Dasta for guerilla warfare.
● Suryadev Narayan Singh and Rammanohar Lohia were the helping hands of Azad Dasta.
They were running a radio with Aruna Asaf Ali. Nityanand Singh was giving training in
Bomb making.
● The other group consisting of Yogendra Shukla, Suraj Narayan Singh, and Gulab Sonar
proceed to north Bihar. On secret information, Yogendra Shukla was arrested at
Akharaghat, Muzaffarpur by the Police superintendent.

● Dhruv Dal: Another incident happened at Katihar, Kishor Lal Kunde was a true Gandhian. His 13-
year-old son, Dhruv was shot dead by police while going to school. As a result, Dhruv Dal was
established to counter British rule and Jayaprakash Naraya was made commander of Dhruv Dal.

● Women participation: On 11th August, Saraswati Devi led a procession in Hazaribagh and was
arrested but being taken to Bhagalpur Jail, she was freed by a group of students. However, soon
she was again arrested.
● Jiriyavati Devi shot at a policeman.
● Shanta Devi addressed a mass meeting in Chhapra.
● Suriti Devi and Radhika Devi took out a Bi-cycle march in Vaishali.
○ Tara Rani and her husband Phulendu from Siwan regulated protests, and planned to
raise the Indian flag on the roof of the Siwan Police Station during the Quit India
struggle. They managed to gather a crowd and began their march towards the Siwan
Police Station, shouting ‘Inquilab’. When they were marching towards them, the police
started lathi-charge. When the protest could not be controlled the police resorted to
firing. Phulendu was hit and fell to the ground. Undeterred, Tara bandaged him with the
help of her sari and continued to lead the crowd towards the station shouting ‘Inquilab’
while holding the Indian flag.

Conclusion

The Quit India movement was a people’s movement as all the leaders were arrested. The people of
Bihar also participated with great zeal and produced a new line of leaders at the national level and
contributed immensely to the success of the movement.
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