The Quit India Movement: from the Repertoire of Lived Memories

The present paper is based on oral account of personalized experiences of the Quit India Movement. It is a lived account of one of the participant, who recalled his childhood days of participation in a movement that convinced him. Most of the incident stated by him has been mentioned in primary sources: Home Political Files of Government of India pertaining to this movement. These files document systematically all incidences/events and to some extent personalities who were involved in igniting the movement in different places. The paper refers to an event that occurred in Ghazipur and Ballia, which were earlier part of United Provinces under the colonial rule and presently situated in eastern Uttar Pradesh. While it is a fact that the experiences shared are totally personalized however their historical relevance has been corroborated by facts mentioned in different primary sources including Home Political files of 1941–43, available with the National Archives of India. An in-depth account of this significant people's movement is stated from the memory of lived participation as narrated to the interviewer.