The
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
Cabinet Mission of 1946 to
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
aimed to discuss and plans for the transfer of power from the
British RajThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
to Indian leadership, providing India with independence under
DominionA dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of semi-autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, from the late 19th century. They included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the...
status in the
Commonwealth of NationsThe Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values...
. Formulated at the initiative of
Clement AttleeClement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
, the
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
, the mission consisted of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the
Secretary of StateSecretary of State is a commonly used title for a member of government. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the government.In many countries, a Secretary of State is a mid-level post...
for India, Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the
Board of TradeThe Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty.
The
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
Cabinet Mission of 1946 to
IndiaIndia, officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal...
aimed to discuss and plans for the transfer of power from the
British RajThe British Raj was the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent between 1858 and 1947; it can also refer to the period of dominion, and even the region under the rule...
to Indian leadership, providing India with independence under
DominionA dominion, often Dominion, refers to one of a group of semi-autonomous polities that were nominally under British sovereignty, constituting the British Empire and British Commonwealth, from the late 19th century. They included Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the...
status in the
Commonwealth of NationsThe Commonwealth of Nations, often referred to as the Commonwealth and previously as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-three independent member states. Most of them were formerly part of the British Empire. They co-operate within a framework of common values...
. Formulated at the initiative of
Clement AttleeClement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
, the
Prime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the political leader of the United Kingdom and the Head of Her Majesty's Government...
, the mission consisted of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, the
Secretary of StateSecretary of State is a commonly used title for a member of government. The role varies between countries, and in some cases there are multiple Secretaries of State in the government.In many countries, a Secretary of State is a mid-level post...
for India, Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the
Board of TradeThe Board of Trade is a committee of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom, originating as a committee of inquiry in the 17th century and evolving gradually into a government department with a diverse range of functions...
, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty. It was also not supplemented by
Lord WavellField Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell GCB, GCSI, GCIE, CMG, MC, PC was a British field marshal and the commander of British Army forces in the Middle East during World War II. He led British forces to victory over the Italians, only to be defeated by the German army...
, the Viceroy of India at the time.
Purpose and proposals
The Mission purpose was:
- Hold 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 held talks with the representatives of the Indian National Congress and the All India Muslim League, the two largest political parties in the
Constituent Assembly of IndiaThe Constituent Assembly of India was elected to write the Constitution of India, and served as its first Parliament as an independent nation.-Election:...
. The two parties had planned on coming to terms of power-sharing between Hindus and Muslims to prevent a communal fall-out as well as to determine British India would be better-off unified or divided. The Congress party under Gandhi-Nehru nexus wanted to obtain
absolute power for their party, having the discretion to deal with Muslim League and Muslims in general at their discretion after the British departed. The All India Muslim League under Jinnah, wanted to keep India united but with political safeguards provided to Muslims such as 'guarantee' of 'parity' in the legislatures. This stance of the League was backed up by the wide belief of Muslims that the British Raj was simply going to be turned in to a 'Hindu Raj' once the British departed; and since the Muslim League was the sole spokesman party of Indian Muslims, it was incumbent up on it to take the matter up with the Crown. After initial dialogue, the Mission proposed its plan over the composition of the new government on May 16th, 1946:
Plan of May 16
Promulgated on 16 May 1946, the plan to create a united dominion of India as a loose
confederationA confederation is an association of sovereign member states, that by treaty have delegated certain of their competences to common institutions, in order to coordinate their policies in a number of areas, without however constituting a new state on top of the member states...
of provinces came to be known by the date of its announcement:
- A united Dominion of India would be given independence.
- Muslim-majority provinces would be grouped - Baluchistan
The Chief Commissioners Province of Baluchistan was a former province of British India located in the northern parts of modern Balochistan province.- History :...
, Sind, PunjabPunjab was a province of British India, it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British rule. With the end of British rule in 1947 the province was split between India and Pakistan...
and NWFP would form one group, and BengalBengal , is a historical and geographical region in the northeast region of the Indian Subcontinent...
and AssamAssam ) is a northeastern state of India with its capital at Dispur located in the Guwahati city. Located south of the eastern Himalayas, Assam comprises the Brahmaputra and the Barak river valleys and the Karbi Anglong and the North Cachar Hills with an area of 30,285 square miles...
would form another.
- Hindu-majority provinces in central and southern India would form another group.
- The Central government would be empowered to run foreign affairs, defence and communications, while the rest of powers and responsibility would belong to the provinces, coordinated by groups.
Plan of June 16
The plan of May 16th, 1946 had envisaged a United India in line with Congress and Muslim League aspirations. But that was where the consensus between the two parties ended since Congress abhorred the idea of having groupings of Muslim majority provinces and that of Hindu majority provinces with the intention of 'balancing' each other at the Central Legislature. The Muslim League could not accept any changes to this plan since the same 'balance' or 'parity' that Congress was loathe to accept, formed the basis of Muslim demands of 'political safeguards' built in to post-British Indian laws so as to prevent absolute rule of Hindus over Muslims.
Reaching an impasse, the British proposed a second, alternative plan on 16 June 1946. This plan sought to arrange for India to be divided into Hindu-majority India and a Muslim-majority
PakistanPakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country located at the crossroads of South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia...
; since Congress had vehemently rejected 'parity' at the Centre. A list of
princely states of India that would be permitted to accede to either dominion or attain independence was also drawn up.
It should be noted that the The Cabinet Mission arrived in India on March 23, 1946 and in Delhi, on April 2, 1946. The announcement of the Plan on May 16th, 1946 was preceded by the Simla Conference of 1946 in the first week of May.
Reactions and acceptance
The approval of the plans would determine the composition of the new government. The
Congress Working CommitteeThe executive committee of the Congress Party in India, typically consisting of fifteen members elected from the All India Congress Committee or AICC, is known as the Congress Working Committee or CWC. It is headed by the Working President....
had initially approved the plan. However, on 10 July,
Jawaharlal NehruJawaharlal Nehru was an Indian statesman who was the first, and has been the longest-serving prime minister of India to date, having served from 1947 until 1964...
, who later became the first prime minister of India, held a press conference in Bombay declaring that the
CongressThe Indian National Congress is a major political party in India. Founded in 1885 by Allan Octavian Hume, Dadabhai Naoroji, Dinshaw Wacha, Womesh Chandra Bonnerjee, Surendranath Banerjee, Monomohun Ghose, and William Wedderburn, the Indian National Congress became the leader of the Indian...
had agreed only to participate in the
Constituent AssemblyThe Constituent Assembly of India was elected to write the Constitution of India, and served as its first Parliament as an independent nation.-Election:...
and "regards itself free to change or modify the Cabinet Mission Plan as it thought best." While the Congress ruled out the June 16 plan - seeing it as the division of India into small states
. Moreover,the Congress was a Centralist party. Intellectuals like Kanji Dawarkadas criticized the Cabinet Plan. Congress was against
decentralization__FORCETOC__Decentralization or Decentralisation is the process of dispersing decision-making governance closer to the people and/or citizen. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors or areas like engineering, management science, political science, political economy,...
and it hadbeen under pressure from Indian capitalists who wanted a strong Center. The plan's strongest opponent was the principal Indian leader Mohandas Gandhi, due to the reason that the territories had been grouped together on the basis of religion
.
The
Muslim LeagueThe All-India Muslim League , founded at Dhaka, Bengal, in 1906, was a political party in British India that played a role in the Indian independence movement and developed into the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state on the Indian subcontinent...
gave its approval to the plan. There was an impression that the Congress also had accepted the scheme and the Plan would be the basis of the future constitution of India
. Jinnah, in his speech to the League Council, clearly stated that he recommended acceptance only because nothing better could be obtained
. However, on declaration from the Congress President that the Congress could change the scheme through its majority in the Constituent Assembly, this meant that the minorities would be placed at the mercy of the majority. The Muslim League Council met at Bombay on 27 July. "Mr. Jinnah in his opening speech reiterated the demand for Pakistan as the only course left open to the Muslim League. After three days' discussion, the Council passed a resolution rejecting the Cabinet Mission Plan. It also decided to resort to
direct actionDirect Action Day, also known as the Great Calcutta Riot, was on 16 August 1946—a day of widespread riot and manslaughter in the city of Calcutta in the Bengal province of British India...
for the achievement of Pakistan."
However, the plan had its advocates. Maulana Azad, a nationalist Muslim leader, said that while the groupings were a major concession to the theme of religious separatism, it would also force the
LeagueThe All-India Muslim League , founded at Dhaka, Bengal, in 1906, was a political party in British India that played a role in the Indian independence movement and developed into the driving force behind the creation of Pakistan as a Muslim state on the Indian subcontinent...
to accept a framework for a united India. While assuring
minority rightsThe term minority rights embodies two separate concepts: first, normal individual rights as applied to members of racial, ethnic, class, religious, linguistic or sexual minorities, and second, collective rights accorded to minority groups...
and participation, an independent India would be free to do away eventually with the groupings arrangement. Gandhi criticized the Maulana's views for ignoring practical considerations and League ambitions.
Formation of a government
The Viceroy began organizing the transfer of power to a Congress-League coalition. But League president Muhammad Ali Jinnah denounced the hesitant and conditional approval of the Congress and rescinded League approval of both plans. Thus Congress leaders entered the newly styled
Viceroy's Executive Council: Jawaharlal Nehru became the head - vice president in title, but possessing the executive authority. Vallabhbhai Patel became the Home member - responsible for internal security and government agencies. Congress-led governments were formed in most provinces - including in the NWFP, in Punjab (a coalition with the
Shiromani Akali DalAkali Dal, also called Shiromani Akali Dal , is a collection of Sikh political parties mainly based in Punjab founded/headed by different people. The modern-day Akali Dal is made up of several break away factions that were once part of the same intellect, a proper unified Akali Dal, of times of...
and the
Unionist Muslim LeagueThe Unionist Muslim League, also known simply as the Unionist party was a political party based in the province of Punjab during British Raj in India. The Unionist party mainly represented the interests of the landed gentry and landlords of Punjab, which included Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs. However,...
). The League led governments in Bengal and Sind. The Constituent Assembly was instructed to begin work to write a new constitution for India.
Coalition and breakdown
Jinnah and the League condemned the new government, and vowed to agitate for Pakistan by any means possible. Disorder arose in Punjab and Bengal, including the cities of
DelhiDelhi, known locally as Dilli , and also by the official name National Capital Territory of Delhi , is the largest metropolis by area and the second-largest metropolis by population in India...
, Bombay and Calcutta. On the League-organized
Direct Action DayDirect Action Day, also known as the Great Calcutta Riot, was on 16 August 1946—a day of widespread riot and manslaughter in the city of Calcutta in the Bengal province of British India...
, over 5,000 people were killed across India, and Hindu, Sikh and Muslim mobs began clashing routinely. Viceroy Wavell stalled the Central government's efforts to stop the disorder, and the provinces were instructed to leave this to the governors, who did not undertake any major action. To end the disorder and rising bloodshed, Wavell encouraged Nehru to ask the League to enter the government. While Patel and most Congress leaders were opposed to conceding to a party that was organizing disorder, Nehru conceded in hope of preserving communal peace.
League leaders entered the council under the leadership of
Liaquat Ali KhanFor other people with the same or similar name, see Liaqat Ali Nawabzada Liaquat Ali Khan was a Pakistani politician who became the first Prime Minister of Pakistan, Foreign Affairs & Commonwealth, Kashmir Affairs and Defence Minister...
, the future first Prime Minister of Pakistan who became the finance minister. But the council did not function in harmony - separate meetings were not held by League ministers, and both parties vetoed the major initiatives proposed by the other, highlighting their ideological differences and political antagonism. At the arrival of the new (and proclaimed as the last) viceroy,
Lord Mountbatten of BurmaAdmiral of the Fleet Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma KG, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCIE, GCVO, DSO, PC was a British admiral and statesman and an uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh...
in early 1947, Congress leaders expressed the view that the coalition was unworkable. This led to the eventual proposal, and acceptance of the
partition of IndiaThe Partition of India was the partition of British India that led to the creation, on August 14, 1947 and August 15, 1947, respectively, of the sovereign states of the Dominion of Pakistan and the Union of India...
.
See also
- Prof. Mansgerh, The Transfer of Power 1942-7 [12 volumes]
- H. M. Seervai, Partition of India: Legend and Reality [ed. 2005]
- Rajmohan Gandhi
Rajmohan Gandhi is a biographer and grandson of Mahatma Gandhi.His maternal grandfather was C. Rajagopalachari Rajaji, the first Indian Governor General of independent India and one of the foremost fighters for Indian independence....
, Patel: A Life
- Robin James Moore, Escape from Empire
- Zeigler
Zeigler may refer to:Places*Zeigler, Illinois, United StatesPeople*Dusty Zeigler, American football player*Heidi Zeigler...
, Mountbatten
- Stanley Wolpert
Stanley Wolpert is an American historian who specializes in the history of India and Pakistan. He received his Ph.D. in history from the University of Pennsylvania...
, Jinnah
- Ayesha Jalal
Ayesha Jalal is a Pakistani-American sociologist and historian. She is a professor of history at Tufts University and a MacArthur Fellow. The bulk of her work deals with the creation of Muslim identities in modern South Asia....
, The Sole Spokesman
- V. P. Menon
Vappala Pangunni Menon, also known as V. P. Menon, was an Indian civil servant who played a vital role in stopping the partition of India and the integration of independent India, during the period 1945-1950....
, Transfer of no Power