Congress Radio, also known as Azad Radio, was an underground radio station that operated for about three months during the Quit India Movement of 1942, a movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi against the British Raj for independence of India. Congress Radio was the broadcasting mouthpiece of the Indian National Congress and functioned from different locations in Bombay, present-day Mumbai, and briefly from Nashik. It was organized by Usha Mehta (1920–2000), then a 22-year student activist, with the help of amateur radio operators. Others who were involved included Vithalbhai Jhaveri, Vitthaldas Khakar, Chandrakant Jhaveri, and Babubhai Thakkar. The broadcasting equipment was supplied by Nanik Motwane of Chicago Radio, Bombay. Prominent leaders of the Indian independence movement like Ram Manohar Lohia, Achyutrao Patwardhan, and Purushottam Trikamdas were also associated with Congress Radio.
Blitz newspaper clipping from 1946 showing Mehta's contributions to the underground radio station
The Quit India Movement was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in India.
Gandhi discusses the movement with Nehru
A 2017 stamp sheet dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the Quit India Movement. It features the Martyr's Memorial Patna (bottom-left), Gandhi delivering his "Do or Die" speech on 8 August 1942 (3rd stamp), and a part of it: "The mantra is 'Do or Die'. We shall either free India or die in the attempt; we shall not live to see the perpetuation of our slavery." (1st stamp).
Picketing in front of Medical School at Bengaluru