Mahatma Gandhi used the phrase “Do or Die” as the central call of the 1942 Quit India Movement.
Gandhi delivered the call during the All India Congress Committee meeting in Bombay on 8 August 1942. The movement demanded an immediate end to British rule in India, during the Second World War. His speech urged Indians to act with determination while maintaining the principle of nonviolence.
The British authorities responded rapidly by arresting Gandhi and other leading Congress figures on 9 August. With much of the national leadership imprisoned, protests, strikes, underground organizing, and attacks on communications infrastructure spread across parts of India. The movement faced severe repression, including mass arrests and violence.
“Do or Die” did not mean that activists should deliberately kill others. In Gandhi’s intended political context, it expressed a resolve to achieve freedom or sacrifice one’s life in the struggle. The phrase is sometimes confused with “Jai Hind,” a patriotic salutation associated especially with Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army.