Timeline
3 September 1939
Its constitutional and political backdrop lay in the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's declaration of that India was at war with Germany, a proclamation issued with…
8 August 1940
When the British government's August Offer of —which promised dominion status after the war and an expanded Executive Council but conceded effective veto pow…
17 October 1940
Vinoba Bhave, the ascetic scholar whom Gandhi regarded as his foremost disciple, was chosen as the very first satyagrahi and offered his protest on ; he was…
Positions at a glance
Indian National Congress
Individual Satyagraha was a Gandhian civil-resistance campaign sanctioned by the Indian National Congress in October 1940 in response to the British decision to commit India to the Second World War without Indian consent. Its constitutional and political backdrop lay in the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's declaration of 3 September 1939 that India was at war with Germany, a proclamation issued without consulting Indian leaders or the elected provincial ministries. The Congress Working Committee resignations of the eight Congress-led provincial governments followed in late 1939 in protest. When the British government's August Offer of 8 August 1940—which promised dominion status after the war and an expanded Executive Council but conceded effective veto power to the Muslim League—failed to satisfy nationalist demands, the Congress authorised Gandhi to lead a measured protest that would register dissent without crippling Britain's war effort or descending into mass disorder.
All-India Muslim League
Individual Satyagraha was a Gandhian civil-resistance campaign sanctioned by the Indian National Congress in October 1940 in response to the British decision to commit India to the Second World War without Indian consent. Its constitutional and political backdrop lay in the Viceroy Lord Linlithgow's declaration of 3 September 1939 that India was at war with Germany, a proclamation issued without consulting Indian leaders or the elected provincial ministries. The Congress Working Committee resignations of the eight Congress-led provincial governments followed in late 1939 in protest. When the British government's August Offer of 8 August 1940—which promised dominion status after the war and an expanded Executive Council but conceded effective veto power to the Muslim League—failed to satisfy nationalist demands, the Congress authorised Gandhi to lead a measured protest that would register dissent without crippling Britain's war effort or descending into mass disorder.
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In October 1940, Mahatma Gandhi chose Vinoba Bhave as the first individual satyagrahi; Bhave delivered an anti-war speech near Wardha on 17 October and was promptly arrested, with Jawaharlal Nehru following as the second.
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