The Quit India movement was carried out in the backdrop of a rapid escalation in tensions – both with the british, and societal communal tension. Also in the background was American pressure against The British to free India, as well as the increasing tensions caused by an attack by Japan. On top of all this came the Cripps Mission – which no nationalist would accept in his right mind. None except Jinnah, that is.

By April 1942, it was looking as if the British would lose the war; they were under severe strain across the entire spectrum of WW2. Japan was already knocking on India’s gates, while Malaya was lost, with a humuliating British withdrawal. Everywhere one looked, from an Indian standpoint, defeat had seemed imminent. The Empire had never looked as weak as it did then

The was moving hand-in-hand with the the increasing anger in the people, as wartime restrictions began to impact the people – in a war that was basically forced onto them. The dissatisfaction rose rapidly with news from Bengal – of the confiscation of food, boats, etc in the middle of a famine – to create high levels of Anger and Dissatisfaction in the people

The final straws came in 2: first, The Atlantic Charter – when the freedom to all peoples clause was expressly denied to India by the British in the House of Commons; and the Second was the Cripps Mission, with its clear and undisguised partition agenda. The Congress was unequivocally against Partition in any form; and the Cripps agenda was a clear invitation to disaster, with its pre-condition that any state could have the option of staying out of the Indian Union. In the words of Cripps himself – “I think he {Jinnah} was rather surprised in the distance that it {the british offer} went to meet the Pakistan Agenda – Stafford Cripps, 25 March 1942”. This proved to be the last straw, in combination with a rapid deterioration in problems and escalation in provinces.