India, Aug. 8 -- By the summer of 1942, India's patience with its colonial masters appeared to have run its course. Lord Linlithgow had plunged India into World War II without consulting Indian political representatives or provincial ministries, triggering tremendous unrest and the en-masse resignation of Congress-ruled provincial governments.

Successive debacles by Allied Powers in East Asia had brought Japanese troops to the gates of erstwhile Burma, British promises of eventual self-governance had repeatedly dissolved into stonewalling, and the failure of Sir Stafford Cripps - who only offered dominion status after the war, expressly ruled out independence, and refused to commit to a clear timeline - had frustrated even the moderates ...