Nehru was imprisoned for 1,041 days during World War II. This was his longest imprisonment and also his last. By this time it was anticipated that India would be granted freedom once the war had ended and Nehru used his time in prison to discuss with his fellow Congress members the shape of the new India which would emerge.
India was under the tight control of the British government at this time, which had clamped down on nationalists and protestors in the wake of the Quit India Movement. The country was virtually under military rule and this continued till the end of the war.
After the release of the Congress leaders, the most pressing business was to get ready for the elections in 1946. Nehru’s zeal for reaching out to the common populace remained undiminished. As in the 1937 election campaign, his election tour took him to every part of the country, even to the remotest areas.
Everywhere he went crowds turned up in the thousands to listen to him as he described the bright, new future that was dawning for India. It was no wonder that when the election results were announced the Congress had made a clean sweep of the polls.
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