HOW IMPORTANAT WERE THE ATTEMPTS TO FIND A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEMS FACING THE SUBCONTINENT IN THE YEARS 1940-1947?

Q1. b. Why did the Cripps Mission of 1942 fail ? November 2004, June 2002, 2009, 2012, spaceman paper 2015.

Firstly, Cripps proposals conceded complete independence at the end of the war. During the war, Indian political leaders could join the Executive Council with control of all government departments except the armed forces. Congress rejected the offer because it wanted immediate power and independence. Gandhi described the proposals as “a post-dated cheque on a bank that was failing.”

Secondly, according to Cripps proposals, provinces could opt out of the Indian Union, which was definitely not acceptable to Congress Nationalists. They considered this option a lethal blow to Indian land. They could not see disintegration of Mother India, and therefore rejected the Cripps Offer.

Lastly, Cripps Mission conceded the right of self-determination to provincial units i.e. the provinces were free to remain within India or opt out of Indian Union. Mr. Jinnah was pleased with this clause because the provinces with Muslim majority could form their own federation i.e. Pakistan. But there was another clause stating that constitution of free India would be drawn up by the Indian political leaders. Jinnah feared that the constitution-making body would be dominated by Hindus who will deny the rights of Muslims. He wanted solid assurance for independent Pakistan, and therefore didn’t agree with the Cripps Mission of 1942.

Q2 b. Why was Quit India Movement formed in 1942? June 2005

Quit India Movement started in 1942 mainly due to+ 2 reasons.

Firstly, there was a threat of Japanese invasion in India as Japanese were fighting against British in World War 2. Japanese had already conquered Burma and this further made Indians fear and thus Gandhi spoke at a Congress meeting that to avoid such invasion, Indians had to drive British out of India and the only way to do so was to persuade British by a nonviolent protest.

Secondly, Stafford Cripps had come to India in order to resolve issues and proposed that full Dominion status would be granted to India after WW2 and elections will be held in order to form a constituent assembly. However, it was said that every province will have choice to opt out of the constitution. Congress strongly opposed the mission as it didn't mention sudden transfer of power and granted right to provinces to opt. Moreover, Congress couldn't trust the British mainly due to the previous violation of agreements by British. Thus in order to oppose the mission, Congress started Quit India movement on 8th August, 1942.

Q3 b. Why did Gandhi Jinnah talks fail in 1944? June 2011 Throughout September 1944 the two met to consider the future of India but the talks broke down for a number of reasons. One of the reasons was that Gandhi wanted the League to give immediate support to Congress in its struggle to remove British out of India. Only after the British left the partition would be considered. Jinnah wanted to secure the partition before the British left India. Why should congress agree to the partition once they left? So this was the one reason for which the talks broke down. Another reason was that Gandhi wanted the central govt. to have control over key areas such as defense and foreign policy. But Jinnah wanted these matters to be in the hands of the provinces. Moreover, Gandhi was not in favor of partition, and he considered himself to be speaking for whole of the India and couldn’t accept the position of Muslims as being a separate nation. Hence independence for all Indians as a united nation was on his agenda but Jinnah reminded him that in reality he was just the spokesman of Congress and wanted just to have Hindu Raj in India.

Gandhi gave the impression that he did not support ‘The Two Nation Theory’ according to which Muslims and Hindus were two separate nations, whereas this had now become an official League policy. So this was another reason for which the talks failed.

Q4. b. Why did Congress and the Muslim League oppose the Cripps Mission in 1942? November 2015

The students should elaborate futher the points as under:

• The Muslims rejected the plan because the British would not agree to Partition and the Congress Party wanted immediate and full control over the central government. • The British were also negotiating from a weak position which the Congress Party exploited by demanding Britain leave the sub-continent immediately. • The ML insisted on a firm promise of an independent state of Pakistan. Anything else would lead to a Hindu majority which they thought would deny Muslim rights.

Q5. c. Was the Cripps Mission in 1942 the most important factor during the 1940s that led to the partition of the sub-continent in 1947? Give reasons for your answer . November 2008

Were the Gandhi- Jinnah talks the most important factor during the 1940s that led to the partition of the sub-continent in 1947? Give reasons for your answer. November 2005

Was the Simla conference of 1945 the most important factor during the 1940s leading to the partition of the sub-continent in 1947? Give reasons for your answer. June 2003

Q6. c. During the Second World War (1939-1945), negotiations aimed at independence achieved little. Give reasons why you might agree or disagree with this treatment. November 2001, June 2013

Q7. C. which of the following was the most important in the development of the Pakistan Movement? Commented [S1]: (i) The Simon Commission 1927 Commented [S2R1]: (ii) Jinnah’s 14 Points 1929 Commented [S3R1]: (iii) The Government of India Act 1935

Explain your answer with reference to all three of the above. June 2013

Q8. c. How successful were political developments in finding a solution to the problems in the sub- continent between 1909 and 1919? Explain your answer. June 2014

Question: The Simla Conference of 1945 contributed the most in the establishment of separate homeland for the Muslims in the period 1940-1947. Explain your answer? [14] Answer: When the British saw that the Congress and the League were not agreeing on any kind of constitutional reforms, Lord Wavell called the leadership of major Indian Parties in Simla Conference of 1945 in which Lord Wavell proposed his own proposals in the shape of Lord Wavell plan. However there were some other major political factors during the period 1940-1947 like Gandhi-Jinnah Talks, Cabinet Mission Plan. In May 1945 Lord Wavell the Viceroy of India went to London and discussed his ideas about the future of India. About the future India with the British administration which formulated a plan of action that was made public in June 1945. The plan suggested the reconstitution of the Viceroy’s executive council in which the Viceroy was to select persons nominated by the political parties. Different communities were also to get their due share in the council and parity was reserved for casts Hindu and Muslims. This plan of Lord Wavell’s can only be executed if the leadership of leading political parties agreed with the suggestion of the government so to discuss these proposals Lord Wavell called a conference in Simla on June 25th 1945. The leadership of both Congress and Muslim League attended the conference. However, differences arouse between the leadership of the two parties on the issue of representation of the Muslims community. The Muslim League claimed that it was the only Muslim representative party in India and the entire Muslims representative in the Viceroy’s executive council should be the nominees of the Party. On the other hand, Congress tried to prove that their party represented all the parties living in India and thus should be allowed to nominate Muslim representatives as well. Congress also opposed the ideas of parity between the cast- Hindus and the Muslims. All this resulted in a deadlock finally Wavell announced his failure on the July 14, this attempt of Lord Wavell was failed because Jinnah not only wanted parity between the Muslims and the Hindus (which was conceded) but also insisted on the Muslim League nominating all Muslims councilors (which was not conceded).

The Gandhi-Jinnah talks began in Bombay on September 19, 1944, and lasted till the 24th of the month. Gandhi argued with Jinnah in the talks that all Indians are one nation therefore demand of separate homeland was baseless. Congress and league should cooperate and achieve independent first, then a referendum maybe held in Muslim majority provinces to find out if they wish to be separated. Punjab and Bengal will have to be divided because there are non-Muslims majority districts. Mr. Jinnah did not agree and pressed upon an independent and sovereign Muslim state. Therefore no fruitful result came out because Gandhi did not accepted Muslims as a separate nation. On the other hand Jinnah wanted all six provinces which were Bengal, Kashmir, Baluchistan, N.W.F.P, Sind and Punjab to be included in Pakistan. Though the Gandhi-Jinnah negotiations failed to achieve the avowed goal of the Hindu-Muslim unity, they brought to Jinnah and the Muslim League two important political gains. Firstly, the leadership of the Congress had now offered to discuss the question of Pakistan seriously before that, the Congress and Mahatma had kept the door to that subject uncompromisingly shut. Secondly, the Congress could no longer justifiably claim that it stood for all the communities in India including the Muslims. Louis Fisher wrote: "The wall between Jinnah and Gandhi was the Two Nation Theory."

All of the British government’s attempts to establish peace between the Congress and Muslim League had failed. The election of 1945-46 was still being held when the British government decided to send a Cabinet mission to India to resolve that political deadlock. The mission comprising Lord Patrick Lawrence, Secretary of state of India Sir Stafford Cripps, Chairmen board of the trade etc. Lord Patrick Lawrence announced that the intention of the mission was to work out a workable political plan in consultation with the different shades of Indian public opinion. 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. Simla Conference though did fail but it paved the way for the provincial and general elections of 1945-46 which the League performed impressively in these elections and Muslim league was approved as the biggest, strongest and the most representative organization in the country and the sole representatives of the Muslims of the region.