On August 8, 1942, Gandhi led the Quit India Movement, a move for early independence. However, due to World War II, it was agreed that a free India was to be created after the war. Agitation by the Muslim League under the leadership of Muhammad Ali Jinnah and concurrently rising tensions between Hindus and Muslims led to the creation of two dominion nations—one a secular India and the other an Islamic Pakistan—on the midnight of August 15, 1947.

See: Partition of India.