Could the British have suppressed an Indian rebellion in the 1930s/40s?

It's not clear to me what the best POD for this would be- perhaps Gandhi dying during one of his hunger strikes? Perhaps avoiding WW2, so that London remains intransigent in it's dealings with the INC?

It's my understanding that most of Britain's political establishment had more or less accepted eventual Indian independence as inevitable, so possibly they wouldn't even try to suppress the rebellion? However, if they did try, how would such a struggle play out? Should we expect that either the British occupiers or the Indian rebels would be quickly and decisively routed? Or would a long, drawn out struggle that turns into a meat-grinder for both sides would be more likely?
 
It's not clear to me what the best POD for this would be- perhaps Gandhi dying during one of his hunger strikes? Perhaps avoiding WW2, so that London remains intransigent in it's dealings with the INC?

It's my understanding that most of Britain's political establishment had more or less accepted eventual Indian independence as inevitable, so possibly they wouldn't even try to suppress the rebellion? However, if they did try, how would such a struggle play out? Should we expect that either the British occupiers or the Indian rebels would be quickly and decisively routed? Or would a long, drawn out struggle that turns into a meat-grinder for both sides would be more likely?
I think the answer would depend on exactly who is rebelling and where. If it is e.g a part of the Indian army or civil service it will play out differently from a mass uprising of the general population. Similarly if it is in a few cities or districts vs a national thing.
But in general, if it’s a large and widespread event then I think either the police and Indian Army shut it down fast with the forces in place or it’s all over. I don’t see there being any appetite for a reconquest in that period.
Smaller/more localised, who knows. I doubt the British would cut and run from India as a whole just because e.g. Bengal rose up if the rest of India was quiescent. But I’m not sure if they would just shrug their shoulders and draw a new border on the map either. Somewhat moot since if a decent chunk of India rebelled it would almost certainly spread at the speed of rumour.
A specific rebellion in a city or district would get jumped on hard, for exactly that reason.
 
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