The Demand For Purna Swaraj

The All India Congress Committee (AICC) was formed in 1929 to launch a civil disobedience programme which included the non-payment of taxes. January 26, 1930, was declared Independence Day and the Independence Pledge, which would be repeated year after year, was taken by the Indian people.

The Satyagraha Era began with the Dandi March against the Salt Tax. Before his arrest, Gandhiji exhorted Indians to unity: "Hindus, Muslims, Parsis and Christians, all should heartily embrace one another."

By the time the Civil Disobedience movement came to an end in April 1934, the Congress had substantially succeeded in lowering the import of British goods to India. The seeds of another social revolution had also been sown: the emancipation of women through their active role in the struggle for freedom.

Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu and Nellie Sengupta were presidents of various Congress sessions, and an inspiration to their contemporaries.

The Quit India Movement

The non-violent Quit India movement was launched in July 1942. A resolution passed by the AICC in August of the same year demanded the end of British rule in India. Speaking on the resolution after it was passed, Gandhiji said that he wanted freedom immediately: "I am today a free man and will no longer depend on you. Every true Congressman or woman will join the struggle with an inflexible determination not to remain alive to see the country in bondage and slavery. We shall either free India or die in the attempt."

The events that followed forced the government to reach a settlement. However, the best efforts of the Congress could not prevent the division of the country on communal lines. The Indian Independence Act was passed by the British Parliament in July, 1947, and on August 14, M.A. Jinnah was declared governor-general of Pakistan.