Gandhi’s arrest sparks “Quit India” movement 70 years ago today (1942)

(Sunday, August 9, 1942) — British officials imprisoned Indian leader Mahatma Gandhi and all his principal collaborators in the Indian National Congress party today, hoping to suppress a civil disobedience program intended to free India from colonial rule.

The move sparked bloody riots that launched the Quit India Movement. Gandhi was held for two years in the Aga Khan Palace in Pune.