By Cedric Prakash
Ahmedabad, August 9, 2026: The Ninth of August 2026 spells ‘Courage’: It was on this day in 1942 that the Quit India Movement went into action and thousands of freedom fighters were arrested.
On August 8, at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee, Mahatma Gandhi introduced a resolution to start the Quit India Movement.
His clarion call was loud, determined, unequivocal, and uncompromising. India had suffered enough under British colonial rule.
The resolution was unanimously passed. Later, Gandhi gave a fiery speech at Gowalia Tank Maidan (today August Kranti Maidan), launching the movement.
He said, “There is a mantra, a short one that I give you. You imprint it in your heart… The mantra is ‘do or die’.”
The next day, thousands demanded the British leave India immediately. Leaders from all strata of society were arrested. These were courageous leaders, ready to die for the country.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), founded in 1925, was conspicuous by its absence, pandering to British masters. Today, their ideological heirs rule with fascism.
The people of India cry out to these anti-national forces to stop terrorising the nation or to ‘quit India’, so that true patriots may live in peace.
The Ninth of August 2026 spells ‘Courage’: that’s what epitomised Edith Stein. Born in 1891 in a Jewish family, she became an agnostic at 14, determined to rely on herself.
After a long journey, she realised that only those committed to Christ’s love are truly free.
In 1922, at 30, she embraced Catholicism. Twelve years later, she became a Carmelite, taking the name Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
She campaigned for women’s rights and education, courageously confronting the Nazis.
Known for her philosophical work on empathy and anthropology, she was arrested in 1942, taken to Auschwitz, and killed in the gas chamber on 9 August. Today she is revered as a Saint of the Catholic Church.
The Ninth of August 2026 spells ‘Courage’: the painful cry of Nagasaki still echoes. On 9 August 1945, three days after Hiroshima, the port city was bombed.
It was a last-minute inclusion, targeted for its shipbuilding industry. At 11:02 a.m., the bomb exploded with the force of 22,000 tons of TNT.
Between 60,000 and 80,000 were killed. The destruction and death remain etched in memory. The nuclear bomb must be abhorred.
Japan surrendered unconditionally, ending World War II weeks later. The world said: “Never Again!”
Yet violence continues in Ukraine, Gaza, Iran, Lebanon and elsewhere, driven by the military-industrial complex. Our world yearns for non-violence, love and peace. Pope Leo constantly asks for peace.
The Ninth of August 2026 spells ‘Courage’: that’s what indigenous peoples celebrate. Today is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples.
In India, Adivasis are victims of demolitions, displacement and delisting. Their forests are taken away. The late Jesuit Fr. Stan Swamy, who died in custody on 5 July 2021, courageously accompanied them in their struggle for jal, jungle aur jameen — water, forests, land.
These rights are systematically denied by mining mafias and vested interests.
The tribals of Manipur, particularly the Kuki-Zo people, have faced violence and displacement since May 2023. Adivasis, the original inhabitants, demand justice, equality and fraternity.
The Ninth of August 2026 spells ‘Courage’: Every year on the second Sunday in August, the Catholic Church in India observes National Youth Sunday.
This year’s theme is “Take Courage! I Have Overcome the World” (John 16:33), also the theme for World Youth Days in Korea, August 2027.
The Ahmedabad Diocese poster shows David slaying Goliath. David, a shepherd boy, had courage because he knew God was on his side.
The Book of Samuel tells us he struck the Philistine with a stone, felling him. How many Catholic youth today have the courage to confront fascist, fundamentalist forces?
How many joined the Cockroach Janata Party and others last month, crying “Azadi! Azadi!” (Freedom! Freedom!)?
The Ninth of August 2026 spells ‘Courage’: On 15 August, we mark another year of freedom. But are we truly free? India lives under an undeclared emergency.
The ninth of August must motivate us to work for an India and a world courageously committed to inclusivity, secularism, pluralism, truth, justice, liberty, equality, dignity and fraternity.
A freedom that embodies the nation’s motto: Satyameva Jayate.
(Jesuit Father Cedric Prakash is a renowned human rights, reconciliation, and peace activist trainer and writer. Contact: cedricprakash@gmail.com)
(Photo by pickpik.com)