Cripps Mission-1942

 

 

Cripps Mission-1942

Entry of Japan into Second World War prompted Britain to look towards the demands of Indians seriously. The result was the Cripps Mission. Prime Minister Winston Churchill constituted the Cripps Mission headed by Sir Stafford Cripps who was the Leader of House of Commons at that point of time.

Sir Stafford Cripps submitted the Draft Proposals or Declaration to Governor General’s Executive Council and subsequently during a press conference they were made known to the people of India.

The highlights of Draft Declaration were as following:

After the Second World War Indian Union with Dominion Status will be created. It would have right to even participate in important organisations at international level

Constituent Assembly will be formed for making a Constitution which would have members from the territories controlled by British and Native or Princely States

In case a particular province didn’t want to join the Union of India would have its special Constitution

The defence related matters would be under the control of British

The Cripps Proposals were not accepted by the Indian leaders. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Azad were part of the negotiations about the Cripps Proposals. Their most important demand was British government should give complete independence to India and not dominion status

Mahatma Gandhi also rejected the Cripps Proposals and he described it as ‘a post dated cheque’. According to some historians one more sentence was added to it by somebody else and it was claimed that actually Mahatma Gandhi called the Cripps Proposals or Cripps Mission as  ‘a post dated cheque on a failing banks’.

As far as Muslim League was concerned it was vehemently demanding a separate state for Muslims

The minorities wanted  more safety measures for them

Organisations like Hindu Mahasabha and other people with liberal thinking objected to issue of right to secede away from Commonwealth

In this way Cripps Proposals faced opposition and objections from all the important stakeholders. Ultimately the Cripps Proposals were rejected by Indians and Cripps Mission proved to be a failure. Sir Stafford Cripps had arrived in India in the month of March 1942 and returned to Britain in April 1942.

Cabinet Mission Plan 1946

By the end of Second World War Conservative Party of Winston Churchill lost power in Britain and Labour Party formed the government. Clement Atlee of Labour Party became the Prime Minister in May 1945.

Clement Atlee’s government decided to send three Ministers of India in order to negotiate with the Indians. These three Ministers were- Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander. They were supposed to visit India and negotiate with the Indians. The visit of these three Ministers is described as the Cabinet Mission in history.

The Cabinet Mission arrived in India in March 1946.

Important highlights of the Cabinet Mission Plan were as following:

·         There would be Union government

·         The Union government will have Executive and Legislature

·         The provinces would have autonomy in respect with the subjects allotted to them and also they will have residuary powers

·         The provinces could form Groups with Executive and Legislatures and further every Group could decide the common provincial subjects

It Grouped the Indian provinces into A, B and C categories. The composition of each of these Groups was as following:

·         Group A- Bombay, Madras, Central Provinces, United Provinces, Bihar and Orissa

·         Group B- Punjab, the North West Frontier and Sindh

·         Group C- Assam and Bengal

It was further said that:

·         Delhi, Ajmer-Marwara and Coorg would be free to join Group A

·         Baluchistan would join Group B

One point to be noted here is that Group A and Delhi, Ajmer-Marwara and Coorg had majority of Hindus and Group B, Group C and Baluchistan had majority of Muslims, hence, somewhere there was an invisible communal line in the Groupings of the Provinces.

One of the important aspects of Cabinet Mission was to form the Constituent Assembly for framing the Constitution and also to decide the issue of how to form Interim Government.

The major demand of Muslim League was that the provinces should be allowed to make changes in the Constitution of Union immediately instead of after ten years.

As far as Indian National Congress was concerned it wanted that the independence of India should be given more priority than framing a Constitution. It also wanted more powers to be vested in Union government, especially in the eventuality of worst kind of law and order problem.

Mountbatten Plan – 3 June 1947

After Cabinet Mission the things moved fast rather dramatic events unraveled. On 16 August 1946 Muslim League created trouble by declaring it as Direct Action Day. Due to it communal problems were created in different parts of the country.

An interim government was formed in India on 2 September 1946. It had representatives of Indian National Congress as well as Muslim League. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was Vice President of the Executive Council in interim government and in that capacity he headed the government as the Prime Minister. Muslim League was not in the mood to co-operate with the Constituent Assembly.

Muslim League and its leader Barrister Jinah wanted to have a separate nation for the Muslims. The Indian National Congress resisted demand but Muslim League was not ready to compromise on the issue of a separate Pakistan for Muslims.

Clement Atlee, the then Prime Minister of England made an announcement on 20 February 1947 that British government intends to hand over the political power in India to Indians latest by the month of June 1948.

On the above background Lord Mountbatten arrived in India as the Governor General of India. The topmost agenda of Lord Mountbatten was to accelerate the speed of transfer of power to Indians.

Things became pretty clear that Muslim League would not give up its demand for separate Pakistan.

Due to the stand taken by Muslim League it became clear that partition of India would be unavoidable.

On 3 June 1947 Lord Mountbatten declared the modalities of transfer of power.

The salient features of Mountbatten Plan were as following:

Punjab and Bengal would be partitioned

Provinces with the majority of the Hindus would have to accept the existing Constituent Assembly which they had already done

Provinces with Muslim majority such as Baluchistan, Bengal, Punjab, Sindh and North West Frontier Province would be given liberty to join the Constituent Assembly of India or Pakistan

Indian National Congress accepted the Mountbatten Plan and as expected Muslim dominated areas like Sindh, East Bengal, West Punjab and Baluchistan joined Pakistan. Under the leadership of Sir Cyril Radcliffe Commissions were formed in order to decide the boundary between India and Pakistan.

The Indian Independence Act 1947

India ultimately got most coveted independence from British rule as per the provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947. A Bill titled the Indian Independence Bill was tabled in British Parliament on 4 July 1947. This Bill was passed on 18 July 1947 and came to be known as the Indian Independence Act 1947.

Important provisions of the Indian Independence Act 1947 were as following:

The independent Dominions of India and Pakistan to be created

The date for independence was fixed as 15 August 1947

The King of Great Britain henceforth could not use the power to veto the laws related to India

The British Monarch no more could act as paramount power in respect with Indian States

The treaties signed between the Indian States and British Crown would cease to exist after 15 August 1947

As far as the relationship and arrangements between Government of India and Indian States were concerned they should be discussed and decided with the Dominions of Pakistan and India

The office of Secretary of State for India would cease to exist

The Dominions of India and Pakistan would be at liberty to leave the British Commonwealth of Nations

Tryst with Destiny

Thus, the long cherished dream of Indians to get complete freedom from British rule came true at the mid night of 15 August 1947. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru gave his famous speech at this hour titled as ‘Tryst with Destiny’ before the Constituent Assembly of India. Excerpts from this speech are as following:

‘‘Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny, and now the time comes when we shall redeem our pledge, not wholly or in full measure, but very substantially. At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom…….”

Only regret was that freedom came with the scar and incurable wound of partition.