Quit India anniversary: Sonia exhorts people to defend freedom with 'all might'

On the Quit India movement anniversary, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday exhorted countrymen to defend the country's freedom with "all our might", while the opposition party also hit out at the RSS, alleging that it supported the British amid brutal repression at that time.

In her message on the occasion, Gandhi said that on this historic day, Aruna Asif Ali held aloft the National flag when lakhs and lakhs of Congress workers were beaten and jailed.

Her act of courage became the symbol of our quest for freedom, Sonia Gandhi said.

"As we commemorate the Quit India movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, let us not forget the price that millions of our countrymen and women paid for India’s freedom. Let us renew our resolve to defend it and protect it with all our might," she said.

"When the country under the Congress leadership was engaged in a decisive struggle against the British, the RSS not only boycotted the movement but also actively supported the British," the Congress said in Hindi on its official Twitter handle.

Attacking the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked what the organisation was doing 80 years ago on this historic day when Mahatma launched Quit India.

Also Read | Uprisings in villages that unsettled the British during Quit India movement

"It was on the sidelines dissociating itself from the mass movement. Shyama Prasad Mookherjee took no part while Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Azad, Prasad, Pant and many others were jailed," he said in a tweet.

In a message in Hindi on the 80th anniversary of the Quit India Movement, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also slammed the RSS, saying when the whole country was fighting unitedly, the RSS appealed to Indians to give up on the movement and supported the British during the period of brutal repression.

During the Quit India movement, people of every class, caste, religion, region and age unitedly raised a battle cry which said, "Britishers Quit India", she noted in her message.

"Gandhi ji, Nehru ji, Sardar Patel ji and Maulana Azad were arrested as soon as the movement was announced. Then, Aruna Asaf Ali ji hoisted the tricolor at the Azad Kranti Maidan (Gowalia Tank Maidan) to keep the flame of the movement burning," Priyanka Gandhi said.

"Repression increased. The offices of the Indian National Congress were demolished. People were arrested all over the country. But, the slogan of the Quit India Movement was adopted by the people. The battle cry of the august revolution drove the Britishers out of India and on August 15, 1947, we got freedom," she said.

Paying homage to the fighters and martyrs of the movement, Priyanka Gandhi urged people to take a pledge that they will give their all to keep alive the ideals of the freedom movement.

In a tweet, she said that on this day, with the slogan of Quit India, Indians unitedly started a 'do or die' struggle against the brutal British rule. Unity is our greatest strength, she added.

"Let us take a pledge to 'Unite India (Bharat Jodo)' and add new dimensions of development in India, raising the flag of unity in diversity," Priyanka Gandhi said.

The people of India had launched the decisive final phase of the struggle for independence with the Quit India movement 80 years ago.