Anti-imperialist solidarity had its limits. A mission to India by the leftist British politician Sir Stafford Cripps in April 1942 failed to achieve any accommodation between the colonial authorities and Congress. Just a few months later, in August 1942, Nehru and Gandhi began the Quit India movement, which demanded swift independence from the British and led to the arrest of the top Congress leadership and around 100,000 other activists. Some 2.5 million Indian troops did fight for the Allies during the war, although without the explicit support of Congress.
