Anti-colonial slogan given new spin in India ahead of no-confidence vote

Celebrations for the anniversary of the Mahatma Gandhi-led ‘Quit India’ movement against British rule have taken a new turn this year, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) using the occasion to lash out at the opposition amid a debate over a no-confidence motion submitted against the government.  

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday took a swipe at the Congress Party-led opposition as he paid tribute on the 81st anniversary of the ‘Quit India’ movement, lavishing praise on Gandhi and other freedom fighters who played “a major role in freeing the country from the [British] colonial rule” in 1947.

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), Modi suggested that India is speaking “in one voice” about removing “corruption, dynasty, and appeasement.”

Social media posts echoing Modi’s message and reinforcing the ruling BJP’s position were published by the accounts of key government figures, including Foreign Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman. Posters titled “Quit India” and showing key Congress Party members were shared by many BJP leaders.  

The ‘Quit India’ movement is synonymous with the Congress, India’s grand old party. The movement was launched by Gandhi on August 9, 1942 in Bombay – presently Mumbai – and demanded an end to British rule. The agitation proved to be one of the final phases of the struggle for independence, as hundreds and thousands of Indians took to the streets in protest, driven by Gandhi’s call of “do or die.” The Congress Party ruled the country for 60 of the 75 years after India won independence from the British Empire in 1947, and had been in opposition since BJP came to power in 2014.

On Wednesday, Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi – known as a bitter critic of the Modi government – claimed that he had been detained at a police station in Mumbai for attempting to commemorate Quit India Day. Pawan Khera, chairman of the Congress’s media department, reacted to Gandhi’s detention by lashing out at the government for replacing “Quit India with Quiet India”, a reference to alleged attempts to silence opposition voices. 

The ‘Quit India’ slogan trended on social media on Wednesday against the backdrop of the parliamentary debate over a no-confidence motion against the government submitted by the Congress and fellow opposition parties under the recently formed INDIA alliance.

The outcome of the no-trust vote appears to be a foregone conclusion considering the government has a majority of 331 seats in the 543-member Lok Sabha, the lower house of parliament. However, opposition leaders have repeatedly stated that their main aim is to promote debate on issues such as the ethnic clashes in northeastern Manipur, and to pressure Modi to address the situation. The remote state has been the scene of violence since May, leading to over 150 deaths and tens of thousands of people begin displaced. 

In his first speech to the Lok Sabha after being reinstated as an MP, Congress Party leader Rahul Gandhi lashed out at Modi during the second day of the no-confidence motion debate, criticizing him for not visiting the troubled state, “because for him, Manipur is not in India.” Gandhi also accused the Modi government of dividing the state, according to the Times of India. The remarks drew a strong response from members of the ruling BJP, who demanding that Gandhi apologize.

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