 Nurtured by the Gandhian philosophy of non-violence, peace was a passion with the Indian National Congress. Therefore, even when the western powers were following the policy of appeasement, Mahatma Gandhi had written to Hitler, the one man who could prevent a war and save humanity. Must you pay this price for an object, however worthy it may appear to you? Will you listen to the appeal of one who has deliberately shunned the method of war? Hitler embarked on his misadventure in September 1939, which was to cost over 30 million lives. India had been dragged into the war without consulting its people. The Congress Working Committee met at Walther on the 14th of September to discuss the grave crisis. The Congress issued a manifesto, condemning the fascist aggression of Poland and said, a free democratic India will gladly associate herself with the free nations for mutual defence against the aggression. If war is to defend the imperialist interests, then India can have nothing to do with it. The Congress condemned the viceroy's declaration of India as a belligerent country without any reference to her people. The Congress declared, nothing short of complete independence can be accepted by the people of India. They alone can properly shape their own constitution and determine their relations with the other countries of the world. Jawaharlal Nehru said that India can take the full chair of the responsibility of fighting against fascism if immediate independence is granted. The threat of the invasion of India was growing. A savage war was being fought along India's eastern frontiers. Kohima and Imphal were soon to become fields of grim battle. The Congress was agreeable to the stationing of the Allied Armed Forces in India for the duration of the war, but demanded the immediate withdrawal of British rule. The Congress declared that it would be reluctantly compelled to launch a non-coperation movement to vindicate her political rights and liberty.