demonstrators were subjected to public flogging. Hundreds of civilians were killed in violence many shot by the police army. Many national leaders went underground and continued their struggle by broadcasting messages over clandestine radio stations, distributing pamphlets and establishing parallel governments. The British sense of crisis was strong enough that a battleship was specifically set aside to take Gandhi and the Congress leaders out of India, possibly to South Africa or Yemen but ultimately did not take that step out of fear of intensifying the revolt. A sense that the movement had couldn't gain prompt results had depressed many nationalists, while Jinnah and the Muslim League, as well as Congress opponents such as the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and the Hindu Mahasabha sought to gain political mileage, criticising Gandhi and the Congress Party. The Congress leadership was cut off from the rest of the world for over three years. Gandhi's wife Kasturba Gandhi and his personal secretary Mahadev Desai died in months and Gandhi's health was failing, despite this Gandhi went on a 21-day fast and maintained his resolve to continuous resistance. Although the British released Gandhi on account of his health in 1944, he kept up the resistance, demanding the release of the Congress leadership. In 1945, when the World War 2 almost came to an end, the Labour Party of the United Kingdom won elections with a promise to provide independence to India. The jailed political prisoners were released in 1945. See also Bhadant Anand Kausalyayan British Raj Government of Azad Hind Indian Independence Movement Indian nationalism Kallara-Pangode Struggle Non-Cooperation Movement Rahul Sankrityayan References Works cited Further reading Akbar, M.J. Nehru: The Making of India (Viking, 1988), popular biography Clymer, Kenton J. Quest for Freedom: The United States and India's Independence (Columbia University Press, 1995) online edition Hutchins, Francis G. India's Revolution: Gandhi and the Quit India Movement (1973) Krishan, Shri. "Crowd vigour and social identity: The Quit India Movement in western India." Indian Economic & Social History Review 33.4 (1996): 459–479. Panigrahi; D. N. India's Partition: The Story of Imperialism in Retreat (Routledge, 2004) online edition Patil, V. I. Gandhiji, Nehruji and the Quit India Movement (1984) Read, Anthony, and David Fisher; The Proudest Day: India's Long Road to Independence (W. W. Norton, 1999) online edition; detailed scholarly history Venkataramani, M. S.; Shrivastava, B. K. Quit India: The American Response to the 1942 Struggle (1979) Muni, S. D.