[Mahatma Gandhi]

"This is the psychological moment for recognition (of Indian Independence). For then and then alone can there be irresistible opposition to Japanese aggression."

After the failure of the Cripps Mission, it was clear that there was little prospect of a political settlement as long as the war lasted.The Government was preoccupied with the critical War situation.

In India, the war had not evoked an upsurge of patriotism. The distrust of the British had become almost pathological. Since Gandhiji's hand was on the pulse of the people, he noted that their mood in the face of great peril was not one of resolute defiance, but of panic, frustration and helplessness.`If India was not to go the way of Malaya and Burma, something had to be done and done quickly'. Gandhiji became convinced that only an immediate declaration of India's Independence by the British Government. could give the people a stake in the defence of their country. To those who said that the time was inopportune for such a step, his answer was: "This is the psychological moment for recognition (of Indian Independence). For then and then alone can there be irresistible opposition to Japanese aggression."

As communalism was raising its ugly head higher and higher, Gandhiji felt that only in a climate of freedom could the antagonistic claims of the communities be reconciled. "Quit India" was thus Gandhiji's solution to the twin dangers of Japanese invasion and internal disunity which India confronted in 1942.