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Cripps Mission (1942)

The British were alarmed at the successive victories of Japan during 1940s. When Burma was
turned into a battle field and the war reached the Indian boarders, the British started feeling more
concerned about the future of India. Situation in the country was further complicated as the
Congress wanted to take advantage of the situation by accelerating their efforts in their struggle
for independence. Moreover the differences between the Congress and the Muslim League were
widening fast and visibly there was no chance to bring both the parties on a common agenda. In
these circumstances, the British Government sent a mission to India in 1942 under Sir Stafford
Cripps, the Lord Privy Seal, in order to achieve Hindu-Muslim consensus on some constitutional
arrangement and to convince the Indians to postpone their struggle till the end of the Second
World War.
Cripps arrived in Delhi on March 22, 1942 and had series of meetings with the leading Indian
politicians including Jawaharlal Nehru, Abul Kalam Azad, Quaid-i-Azam, Sir Sikandar Hayat
Khan, A. K. Fazlul Haq, Dr. Ambedkar, V.D. Savarkar and Tej Bhadur Sappru etc. In the
meetings Cripps tried to plead his case before these political leaders and tried to convince them
to accept his following proposals:

1. During the course of the war, the British would retain their hold on India. Once the war
finished, India would be granted dominion status with complete external and internal
autonomy. It would however, be associated with the United Kingdom and other
Dominions by a common allegiance to the Crown.
2. At the end of the war, a Constituent Assembly would be set up with the power to frame
the future constitution of India. The members of the assembly were to be elected on the
basis of proportional representation by the provincial assemblies. Princely States would
also be given representation in the Constituent Assembly.
3. The provinces not agreeing to the new constitution would have the right to keep itself out
of the proposed Union. Such provinces would also be entitled to create their own separate
Union. The British government would also invite them to join the commonwealth.
4. During the war an interim government comprising of different parties of India would be
constituted. However, defence and external affairs would be the sole responsibility of the
viceroy.
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Quaid-i-Azam considered these proposals as “unsatisfactory” and was of the view that the
acceptance of the Cripps proposals would “take the Muslims to the gallows.”

Wavell Plan (1945)

In October 1943 the British Government decided to replace Lord Linlithgow with Lord Wavell
as the Viceroy of India. Before assuming the charge, Wavell worked as the Chief of Indian army
and thus had quit an understanding of the Indian situation. Right after assuming charge as
Viceroy, Wavell’s most important task was to present a formula for the solution of the Indian
problem which was acceptable for both the Congress and the Muslim League. After doing his
basic homework, in May 1945 he visited London and discussed his suggestions with the British
Government. The London talks resulted in the formulation of a definite plan of action which was
officially made public simultaneously on June 14, 1945 by L.S. Amery, the Secretary of State for
India in the House of Commons and by Wavell in a broadcast speech delivered from Delhi. The
plan, commonly known as Wavell Plan presented the following proposals:
1. If all the Indian political parties would help the British in the war then the British
Government would introduce Constitutional Reforms in India after the war.
2. Viceroy’s Executive Council would be immediately reconstituted and the number of its
members would be increased.
3. In that Council there would be equal representation of high class Hindus and the
Muslims.
4. Other minorities including low-caste Hindus, Shudders and Sikhs would be given
representation in the Council.
5. All the members of the Council, except the Viceroy and the Commander-in-Chief would
be Indians.
6. An Indian would be appointed as the member of Foreign Affairs in the Council.
However, a British Commissioner would be appointed to look after the matters relating to
the trade.
7. Defence of India was to be in the hands of a British authority till Power was transferred
to the Indian hands.
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8. Viceroy would convene a meeting of the Indian politician including the leaders of
Congress and the Muslim League so that they could nominate the names of the members
of the new Council.
9. If this plan is approved for the Central Government then same type of popular ministries
comprising of the political leaders would be formed in all the provinces.
10. None of the changes suggested will in any way prejudice or prejudge the essential form
of the future permanent Constitution of India.
Cabinet Mission Plan (1946)
All of the British Government’s attempts to establish peace between the Congress and the
Muslim League had failed. The results of the general elections held in 1945-46 served to
underline the urgency to find a solution to the political deadlock, which was the result of non-
cooperation between the two major parties. To end this, the British government sent a special
mission of cabinet ministers to India.
The mission consisted of Lord Pethic Lawrence, the Sescretary of State for India, Sir Stafford
Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty.
The purpose of the mission was:
 Preparatory discussions with elected representatives of British India and the Indian states
in order to secure agreement as to the method of framing the constitution.
 Setting up of a constitution body.
 Setting up an Executive Council with the support of the main Indian parties.
The mission arrived on March 24, 1946. After extensive discussions with Congress and the
Muslim League, the Cabinet Mission put forward its own proposals on May 16, 1946.
The main points of the plan were:
 There would be a union of India comprising both British India and the Indian States that
would deal with foreign affairs, defense and communications. The union would have an
Executive and a Legislature.
 All residuary powers would belong to the provinces.
 All provinces would be divided into three sections. Provinces could opt out of any group
after the first general elections.
 There would also be an interim government having the support of the major political
parties.
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The Muslim League accepted the plan on June 6 1946. Earlier, the Congress had accepted the
plan on May 24, 1946, though it rejected the interim setup.
The Viceroy should now have invited the Muslim League to form Government as it had accepted
the interim setup; but he did not do so.
Meanwhile Jawaharlal Nehru, addressing a press conference on July 10, said that the Congress
had agreed to join the constituent assembly, but saying it would be free to make changes in the
Cabinet Mission Plan.
Under these circumstances, the Muslim League disassociated itself from the Cabinet Plan and
resorted to “Direct Action” to achieve Pakistan. As a result, Viceroy Wavell invited the Congress
to join the interim government, although it had practically rejected the plan.
June 3rd Plan 1947
The June 3 plan was also known as the Mountbatten Plan.
The plan announced on 3 June 1947 suggested these points:
1. The British Government would divide India into two separate states.

2. Dominion status would be given to the successor governments of the two states.

3. A Boundary Commission would be appointed to demarcate the boundaries if any of the

communal group decides in favor of dividing the province of Punjab and Bengal.

4. The Sindh Legislative Assembly would be authorized to opt out whether it desires to join
the current Constituent Assembly or the New Constituent Assembly.

5. A Referendum would be conducted in the North West Frontier Province to know the
public opinion on the question of joining the new state of Pakistan. The Electoral College for
the Referendum would be the same as it was for in 1946.

6. Baluchistan would be granted freedom of choice.

7. A referendum would be conducted in Sylhet to take the decision whether it wants to join
East Bengal or stay as a part of Asam.

3rd June Plan materialized the dream of Iqbal of a separate state for the Muslim of the Sub-
Continent and bestowed them with Muslim state of Pakistan on August 14, 1947. The Muslim
League, therefore, hailed the Plan.
According to the Plan, the British Government transferred the Power to the governments of the
two New States of Pakistan and India.
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The Radcliffe Award

This award, given to India in the form of “Radcliffe Line”, was the most bloody and painful gift
ever. Radcliffe, a British Law Lord was sent to India on 8th July 1947. He was given just 5
weeks cut India into two parts, based on religion. Two separate boundary commissions were
setup, one for Punjab and one for Bengal. Both were chaired by Radcliffe.  He started drawing
the bloody line, which is popularly known as the Radcliffe Line. It divided India into East and
West Pakistan.

1. Radcliffe never visited India before this date

2. He couldn’t travel the length and breadth of India during his 5 week stay
3. He kept distance from Lord Mountbatten and other Indian Politicians, who knew India
well, in order to stay unbiased (which in-turn proved fatal)
4. There was no outside participant (such as United Nations)
5. There was lack of sufficient survey data and regional demographics
6. Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims were kept in the border commissions, but their internal fight
made the decision tougher. Worse, the family (wife & 2 children) of Sikh Judge was
killed a few weeks earlier.
7. Britain was in ‘war debt’ and could not afford arranging for adequate resources.
8. Punjab Border Commission was to draw a line right through homeland of Sikhs and
Bengal Border Commission was to draw line through Chittagong, home to Buddhists in
order to divide India between Hindus and Muslims.
9. Buddhist tribes in Chittagong Hill Tracts had no official representation and were left
without any information to prepare for their situation during partition.
10. Line could be drawn only through the British controlled areas, leaving as many as 562
princely states to the hands of their rulers to decide, which side to join. States like
Kashmir and Junagadh had ruler from different religion than their majority population,
which ended up in major conflicts.
11. Major states like Hyderabad, Jodhpur, Rewa, Gwalior, Jaisalmer, Bahawalpur comprised
most of the Indian land and were forced to choose one side.
12. Hindu majority areas like Khulna and Buddhist majority Chittagong Hills were given to
Pakistan while Muslim majority Murshidabad and Malda fell in India. Similarly, major
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Sikh settlements of Lahore, Rawalpindi & Multan went to Pakistan while Muslims rich
Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Ludhiana were given to India.
13. Sindh, from where the name “Hind”, “Hindi” and “Hindustan” is derived, was given to
Pakistan leaving as many as 1.4 million Hindus in a stiff. Half of them fled to India.
14. Several important factors were ignored by Radcliffe, which was complained by every
party in India.
15. A rough line was drawn on paper, leaving several regions in dilemma. We still have few
homes in Bengal, where one room is in India and other in Bangladesh
16. Entire process of division was kept secret and only core committee knew of the draft
17. Partition was declared on 17th August 1947, two days after Independence. Many villages
hoisted flag of different countries for 2 days, until the confusion was cleared on 17th. For
example, Malda was taken by East Pakistan Administration and Pakistani flag was
hoisted, until Indian Administration reached after 4 days with correct documents and
replaced the flag.
18. Since Partition was declared after the British handed over control, the responsibility of
Law & Order during Migration was left to the hands of newly formed governments, who
were still taking account of their security strengths and weaknesses. It took them several
months to get law enforcement agencies in place, during which, the mass massacre
happened.
19. Only 50,000 security personnel were deployed in Punjab, to protect 14 million migrating
individuals. There was less than 1 soldier per square mile.