24. CRIPPS MISSION, 1942

24. CRIPPS MISSION, 1942

• Sir Stafford Cripps, a British Cabinet Minister, sent by PM Winston Churchill to India in March 1942 amid WWII (Japan advancing towards India's borders) to secure Indian cooperation in the war effort.

Key Proposals

• Promised Dominion Status for India after the war, with the right to secede from the British Commonwealth.
• Proposed setting up of a Constituent Assembly after the war to frame a new constitution — elected members from provincial assemblies plus nominees of princely states.
• Provided that any province unwilling to accept the new constitution could retain its existing status, or form a separate union with its own constitution — the "non-accession clause" — widely seen as conceding the principle of Pakistan/partition.
• Interim arrangement: Indians to be given greater role in the interim, but Defence would remain with the British during the war.

Reasons for Failure

• Congress rejected it — Gandhi famously called it "a post-dated cheque on a crashing bank." Congress objected to the non-accession clause (fear of Balkanization/partition) and the retention of Defence with the British.
• Muslim League also rejected it, since it did not explicitly guarantee Pakistan.
• Mission failed; led Congress to launch the Quit India Movement (August 1942) shortly after.

Key Facts

• Year: 1942; Envoy: Stafford Cripps; Viceroy: Lord Linlithgow
• Promised: Dominion Status + Constituent Assembly + non-accession/opt-out clause for provinces
• Gandhi's remark: "post-dated cheque on a crashing bank"
• Failure → led to Quit India Movement, 1942