Nehru opposed the ‘Quit India’ Resolution

Nehru opposed the ‘Quit India’ Resolution

·         When Congress leaders were jailed, Hindu Mahasabha shared power with Leaguers

·         Muslims, Christians and Parsees were in forefront to support Gandhi

Dr.Hari Desai’s Weekly Column “Back to Roots” in Asian Voice, the Newsweekly of ABPL Group, London

18 November 2017  Web Link: http://bit.ly/2hzjcrb  Blog : haridesai.blogspot.com

·         Some years back Dr. K. K. Chaudhari, the Executive Editor and Secretary, Gazetteers Department of Maharashtra Government and an eminent historian, literary shocked me by showing a copy of “The Times of India” dated July 1942 which had headlined: “Nehru opposes the Quit India Resolution”. Unfortunately, Dr. Chaudhari could not incorporate the photocopy of it in his well-researched book, “Quit India Revolution : The Ethos of Its Central Direction”, to avoid controversy. 

·         Nehru was not just the only Indian leader to oppose the Quit India resolution but since he was so close to Mahatma Gandhi, his opposition was considered significant. Yusuf Meherally, the founder of Congress Socialist Party(1934) and a Gujarati Mayor of Bombay, coined both the slogans, “Quit India”(1942) and “Simon Commission Go Back”(1928). He was elected Mayor of Bombay while being imprisoned in Yerawada Central Jail in 1942.

·         Dr. Chaudhari records : “If the Japanese reach India, there was every chance that Master Tara Singh (Akali Dal) and V.D. Savarkar ( Hindu Mahasabha)would lead their followers into the enemy’s camp.”

·         When most of the Congress leaders were arrested, the Hindu Mahasabha leaders including Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee were holding ministerial posts with the Muslim Leaguers! In Bengal and Sindh , there were coalition ministries of Muslim League and Hindu Mahasabha. The Moderates were eager to walk into the Viceroy’s Executive Council. 

·         The Depressed Castes leader, Dr. B. R. Ambedkar, was feeling neglected but was invited to join the Viceroy’s Executive Council in July 1942. “The English supplement of the ‘Vande Mataram’ of 5 October 1942 accused Jamnadas Mehta of getting Rs.13,000 from the Government Treasury every month, along with M.N.Roy, for pro-government propaganda by the Indian Labour Federation.”