The end of World War II and the incidents following after that were the eyeopener to British which had been announced by Sir Stafford Cripps in his statement in British Parliament. He frankly confessed on 5th March, 1947 that they haf only two alternatives:
Firstly, that by increasing the personals in the State Secretariate and by increasing the strength of the military they could prolong the British rule in India. They could have done that by continuing the rule over 10 to 15 years.
Secondly, the next alternative was that it was better to confess that the first alternative was totally impossible.
Britain did not take much time to reaise that she had after all won a Pyrrhic victory. She saved herself and her empire by inflicting a crushing defeat upon Germany and Japan, but this fight had exhausted her manpower and economic resources to such an extent that she could never hope to rewcover old power and prestige.Her position as a first-rate world power was transferred to USA and Russia.
In his speech at the Blackpool Conference on 23rd May, 1945, Attlee, Premier of Labour Party, clearly said that they would strive earnestly to enable India to get full self-government.
A Cabinet Mission was formed with the following members to discuus and finalise plans for ending British Raj in India and hand over the Country's leadership to the Indians. The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India was also to talk about granting Dominion Status to India in the Common- Wealth of Nations.
Members of Cabinet Missiom :
1.Secretary of State for India: Lord Pethick Lawrence,
2. President of the Board of Trade: Sir Stafford Cripps,
3. First lord of the Admiralty:A.V.Alexander,
4. Viceroy of India: Lord Wavell.
Purpose of 1946 Cabinet Mission of India:
1. To discusss the framing of the constitution with representatives of the Indian States and British India and reach an agreement,
2. Form a constitution body,
3. Set up an Executive council with main Indian Parties support.
1946 Cabinet Mission to India Facts:
1. March 24 Marked the beginning of the 1924 Cabinet Mission,
2. Talks in the mission were held with all India Muslim League and Indian National Congress representatives.
Cabinet Mission Plans :
The Mission came up with a proposal of 2 plans over new Government composition which were :
Cabinet mission Plan of May 16
Promulgated on May 16, 1946, the plan to create a United domain of India as a loose confederation of provinces came to be known its date of announcement:
* The Dominion of India would get its Indsependence,
* The provinces with Muslim majority would be divided into two groups,
* NWFP with Punjab , Sindh and Baluchistan,
* Bengal and Assam
* Provinces with a majority of Hindu population in central India and Southern India would be in another group,
* Power would have to be passed on to the Central overnment to run foreign affairs, communications, and defence, while the remainig responsibility and powers would be shouldered by the provincial groups.
Cabinet Mission -Plan 0f June 16:
* This was an alternative plan where a proposal was made made to divide India into:
* Hindu Majority India,
* Muslim majority Pakistan,
*The princely Indian States would be granted the permission to attain Independence or accede to either of 2 dominions.
Aftermath of the Cabinet Mission to India:
* The Congress ruled out the cabinet mission plan of June 16and neither could they accept the May 16 plan,
* Under duress, the Muslim League approved of the plan , however, after a three ay meeting in Bombay, the Muslim League Council met headed by Mr. jinnah rejected the Cabinet Mission plan . It also toook the decision to take "Direct Action" for acheiving Pakistan.
*However, after much debate and strong reservations the Congress finally approved Plan May16.
