1941-1947
Quit India

9 months in Hazaribaugh jail of Bihar in 1940 was marked with frustration as he was all too aware of the rapid march of events outside. Congress party was marred by the differences on the strategy towards the World War II. It also saw the development of the separatist move by Jinnah and the Muslim League. JP’s solution for these problems was mass revolutionary struggle. This mood led up to the role he would play in the 1942 movement.

After the fall of France to Hitler, AICC adopted a resolution, offering to co-operate in war. For the first time this was done in spite of Gandhiji’s opposition. JP was scandalized; he called it a back stabbing. JP planned to go underground on release. He was released towards the end of the year, but the police kept a close watch and rearrested him. This time there was no trial, he was detained indefinitely under the Defence of India Rules.

He was sent to Deoli Jail, 80 miles from Ajmer, Rajasthan. He had the company of communists and congress socialists. Events at Deoli Jail made JP the hero for the young generation. JP made an unsuccessful attempt to smuggle messages out of the Jail with the help of his wife, Prabhavati. The CID confiscated the letter. The government made the letter public in order to defame JP, and lableed him as a terrorist. The letter was also used to pit him against Gandhi as he had called the individual satyagraha a farce. To government’s dismay Gandhi ji defended JP, without diluting his own stand. The event was much publicised. Conditions of the Deoli jail were bad and that led to the second event that got enough publicity and added to JP’s image of hero. JP went on a hunger strike of 31 days to demand closure of the Deoli Jail, due to its inhuman conditions. The public pressure created in sympathy to the fast made government climb down and sent the detenues to jail in their home provinces.

World War II saw differences in congress coming out in open. There were various views each led by the national heroes of independence of India - Nehru, Subhash Chandra Bose, Maulana Azad, Gandhi ji, JP. Without consulting each other, JP’s and Gandhiji’s views had come close. At this point in time, both wanted national independence as a priority and at any cost. After the closer of Deoli Jail, JP was sent to the jail in his home province in Hazari baugh. On 8th August AICC passed the quit India resolution, “mass struggle on nonviolent lines on the widest possible scale.” But on the eve of the movement, all the national leaders were arrested. The reaction was immediate – an explosion of popular anger against the government, mostly unplanned but to some extent aimed at sabotaging the movement of men and supplies in connection with the war. It was countered by maximum repression. It was only when the official documents were released by the British government, that the extent of the repression was known in its full extent. The official documents had termed the movement as the worst uprising since the revolution of 1857.

It was acutely frustrating for JP to be confined to a jail, especially when the kind of revolt that he had worked for and hoped for had now been sanctioned by Gandhi himself. On the darkest night of the year, 9th November 1942, when the celebrations of Diwali were going on in the jail, JP and group of five (Jogender Shukla, Suraj Narayan Singh, Shaligram Singh, Gulab Chand Gupta and Ramanand Mishra) executed a well rehearsed plan of escape. They made a human ladder against the wall. And with the help of the rope made out of tied dhoties, they jumped the 17 feet wall in just 6 minutes; the sentry completed his round in eight. But in the hurry, they left behind the package containing their shoes, extra clothing and money. Crippled by sciatica, JP had to be carried by Basawan Singh, part of the way. After two days the group split in two directions. From here JP travelled in disguise to co-ordinate and keep the Quit India movement alive. JP had become the national hero, and government announced a bounty of ten thousand rupees to anyone giving information on him.

JP travelled continuously and he worded the various printed and cyclostyled pamphlets and newsletters that were distributed. During this time he wrote three historical letters. One was addressed to all the fighters of freedom struggle, the other was to the youth of India and one was to the American soldiers in India. To American Soldiers, he appealed that, as soldiers of freedom, they should support the Indian freedom struggle. And that they should refuse to take part in the British fascist war against India. While he was underground, one of the most romantic of his endeavours was the formation of Azad Dasta. The training centre of Azad Dasta was established on the Indo-Nepal border. Later he was joined by Ram Manohar Lohia.

Government of India convinced the Nepal government to take action against the Azad Dasta and one fine day JP and Lohia were arrested by Nepalese Police and were taken to Hanumannagar police station. JP – the commander in chief of the Azad Dasta, sent a word to his soldiers to attack the police station. After the exchange of few shots they managed to escape successfully. In the encounter one of the Nepali constables died. Out of remorse, nearly after four years, JP wrote to the Maharaja of Nepal. In the letter explained the circumstances of the event and asked to contribute to help the family of the diseased soldier.

Finally the British closed in on JP in Amritsar when he was on his way to Rawalpindi to contact Pathan insurgents of the North-West Frontier Province. He was taken to Lahore Fort, notorious as a "Torture chamber" on September 18, 1943. 16 months of mental and physical torture followed. He was put in solitary confinement for the first month. Then came interrogations, physical torture and humiliation. JP was released from jail on April 12, 1946, long after the other national leaders were released. Mahatma Gandhi himself had pleaded for his release to the Viceroy. Thus JP was in jail at a crucial period of the negotiations leading to the partition of the country and transfer of power.