Quit India speech, Gowalia Tank Maidan, Bombay, 8 August 1942
Do or Die
On the warm night of 8 August 1942, tens of thousands of people sat together at Gowalia Tank Maidan in Bombay. The All India Congress Committee had just passed the Quit India resolution, demanding an immediate British exit during the Second World War. Maulana Abul Kalam Azad chaired the meeting, while Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel spoke in support of the text. Then Mahatma Gandhi rose to speak in Hindustani and in English. He told the crowd: "Here is a mantra, a short one, that I give you. You may imprint it on your hearts and let every breath of yours give expression to it. The mantra is: \"Do or Die.\"" He told them to either free India or die in the attempt.
People often think that total commitment means taking up weapons. Gandhiji meant the opposite. He made it clear that nobody was allowed to kill, but everyone had to stop cooperating with British rule. If a committee tells you what to do every morning, you only follow orders. When the leaders are taken away, you have to decide each step yourself. The line was a short rule for people who were about to be left completely on their own.
Therefore
When you take on a hard task, do not wait for someone to check your work. Decide in advance that you will see it through to the end.
Aga Khan Palace, Poona, 1942–1944
The British authorities thought the movement would collapse if they locked up the committee. Before dawn on 9 August 1942, police arrested Mahatma Gandhi, Kasturba Gandhi, and his secretary Mahadev Desai. They imprisoned Gandhiji at the Aga Khan Palace in Poona, while other leaders went to Ahmednagar Fort. Without leaders, strikes and police gunfire broke out across India. Desai died of a heart attack in the palace six days later, and Kasturba Gandhi died there in February 1944. The police broke the street protests, but ordinary citizens kept the refusal alive because the instruction had been simple enough for anyone to carry.
A small reminder, on the notebook or the phone case, that some decisions work better when you take away the option to quit.
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