After 200 years of colonial rule, the national feelings of the Indian people have been suppressed for a long time, and the voice for independence is growing. Although there were sporadic uprisings, riots or other forms of independence movements before, they were suppressed by relatively powerful British colonists because of their small scale and historical conditions at that time. However, the wheel of history turned to the first half of the 20th century, and the First and Second World Wars were reported one after another. The British empire went from bad to worse, and the colonists had to regretfully decide to withdraw from the South Asian subcontinent. As an old colonial empire, the British will not hand over the "brightest and most precious jewel in the king's crown" to the Indians for nothing, but will seize this last chance to make a fortune and pave the way for the British to continue to intervene in the affairs of the South Asian subcontinent in the next few years. The "mountbatten Plan" was put forward in this situation.

Under the long-term rule of British colonialists, the Indian people have never stopped fighting for national independence. But it was not until the early 20th century that India's national liberation movement entered a new stage. 1920, the Congress Party complied with the people's demands, adopted Gandhi's program of non-violence and non-cooperation, and led the Indian people to launch a nationwide non-violence and non-cooperation movement against British colonial rule for national independence. The leading members of the Congress Party are mostly Hindus from the upper classes and higher castes. Most of them have received western democratic education and professional training, and have western democratic ideas. Gandhi himself studied in England and studied law. He believes that India's multi-ethnic and multi-surname social characteristics make it unsuitable for India to use violence, because "violence will lead to a protracted civil war, and in this process, scarce material resources will be destroyed, which could have been used to create conditions for the prosperity of all classes." Therefore, when Gandhi led the Indian independence movement, he always adhered to two principles: first, he did not directly attack private ownership, but "persuaded" property owners to "cooperate" and "donate" their property through traditional religious appeals; Second, we should "control" the wishes of the workers and peasants, discourage them from putting forward radical slogans, and attract their attention to improving the most urgent social problems in a legal way, so as to unite the proletariat and the working masses, Hindus and Muslims and complete the great cause of national independence.

19411February 8, the Pacific War broke out, and the United States declared war on Japan and Germany. Almost at the same time, Germany and Italy declared war on the United States. Japan occupied Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar, and approached the Indian border. At that time, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was a staunch opponent of Indian freedom. As early as 1930s, he said, "Britain will never be a great power if it lets India escape from the arms of the empire". In the form of Japanese troops approaching India, Churchill tried to maintain Britain's position in India in the face of the rising "civil disobedience movement" of Indian people. At the same time, in order to mobilize India's human and material resources to a greater extent, he needs to find a way to ease the contradiction with India. So, in March 1942, 1 1, he sent cabinet minister Kripps to India for direct consultation, and brought the advice of the British wartime cabinet. There are two suggestions: first, allow India to become an autonomous territory after the war and set up a constitutional assembly to draft the constitution; Second, the British and Indian government authorities maintained the status quo in wartime, and various political parties helped the government fight.

Both the Congress Party and the Muslim League rejected this proposal, because the former was a long-term check, while the latter was an urgent need of the British colonial government. It is worth mentioning that the United States has discovered the importance of India's status at this time. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the allied forces at that time, said: "India must be preserved at all costs, or the meeting between Japan and Germany through the Persian Gulf will be over." 1in March, 942, Roosevelt called Churchill and suggested setting up a temporary self-government in India. Then he sent a special envoy to interfere with Cripps' work. The British talked at the meeting, and the Americans held informal talks with Indian politicians on the sidelines. This is the first time that the United States has expressed concern about solving the South Asian subcontinent problem. Later, Roosevelt sent private representatives to Indian political parties to mediate and help them establish a "working relationship", but all failed.

Cripps' activities in India aroused the national feelings of the Indian people, who held protests everywhere and demanded that Britain withdraw from India. 1942 In May, Gandhi took the lead in putting forward the slogan "Quit India" for Britain in newspapers and periodicals. On August 7th and 8th of the same year, the Mumbai meeting of the National Committee of the Congress Party held an open debate, and formally passed the "Resolution of Withdrawing from India", proposing that Britain should immediately terminate its rule in India, form an interim government, formulate a constitution, and at the same time approve Gandhi's "Withdrawing from India" movement.

A few hours after the resolution of "Withdrawing from India" was passed, Britain declared the Congress Party illegal and arrested all the main leaders of the Congress Party, including Gandhi and Nehru. This big arrest caused great repercussions among the Indian people. For several months, the struggle against British rule has been fierce everywhere. People attacked the police station and destroyed the railway station, which was unprecedented ferocity. For the first time in his life, Gandhi did not accuse the people of using violence.