Cabinet Mission

The Cabinet Mission was a high-powered mission sent to India by the Atlee government in February 1946. Three British cabinet members served on the mission: (Pethick Lawrence, Secretary of State for India; Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade; and A.V. Alexander, First Lord of the Admiralty) to find ways and means for a negotiated, peaceful transfer of power to India. The mission’s chairman was Pethick Lawrence. 

Background

• Clement Atlee, the British Prime Minister, initiated the formation of the Cabinet Mission.
• It was made up of three members: Lord Pethick-Lawrence, AV Alexander, and Sir Stafford Cripps.
• The then Viceroy Lord Wavell was involved in the process although he was not an official member.
• The Congress Party and the Muslim League, which were at odds on almost every issue at the time, had fundamental ideological differences that were preventing them from finding common ground.
• Congress desired a strong central government with few powers delegated to the provinces.
• The League sought strong safeguards for the rights of Muslims, the world’s largest minority group in India.
• Because both parties had significant ideological differences and were unable to find common ground, the mission issued its own set of proposals in May 1946.

Objectives

• To reach an agreement with Indian leaders on the creation of a constitution for India.
• Creating a constitution-making body (the Constituent Assembly of India).
• To form an Executive Council with the support of the major Indian political parties.

Arrival of Cabinet Mission

• On March 24, 1946, the Cabinet Mission arrived in Delhi. It held lengthy discussions with Indian leaders from all parties and groups on the issues of:
  • interim government; and
  • principles and procedures for drafting a new constitution that would grant India independence.
• Because the Congress and the League were unable to reach an agreement on the fundamental issue of India’s unity or partition, the mission proposed its own constitutional solution in May 1946.

Proposal for Cabinet Mission

• Rejection of the demand for a full-fledged Pakistan because:
  • such a formation of Pakistan would include a large non-Muslim population—38% in the North-West and 48% in the North-East;
  • the very principle of communal self-determination would demand separation of Hindu-majority western Bengal and Sikh- and Hindu-dominated Ambala and Jalandhar divisions of Punjab.
  • deep-rooted regional ties would be jeopardized if Bengal and Punjab were partitioned;
  • partition would cause economic and administrative problems, such as the problem of communication between Pakistan’s western and eastern regions; and
  • the division of the armed forces would be dangerous.
• The provinces would be divided into three sections/groups:
  • Group A includes Madras, the Central Provinces, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Bombay, and Orissa.
  • Group B consists of Punjab, Sindh, the NWFP, and Baluchistan.
  • Group C consists of Bengal and Assam.
• At the provincial, section, and union levels, there is a three-tiered executive and legislature.
• Provincial assemblies were to elect a constituent assembly through proportional representation (voting in three groups: general, Muslims, and Sikhs).
  • This constituent assembly would consist of 389 members, with provincial assemblies sending 292, chief commissioner’s provinces sending 4, and princely states sending 93.
• Members of groups A, B, and C were to sit separately in the constituent assembly to decide the constitution for provinces and, if possible, groups as well.
• The entire constituent assembly (all three sections A, B, and C combined) would then convene to draft the union constitution.
• A centralized command would be in charge of defense, communication, and external affairs. India was to have a federal structure.
• In the central legislature, communal questions were to be decided by a simple majority of both communities present and voting.
• Provinces were to have full autonomy and residual powers, and princely states would no longer be subject to the British government’s supremacy. They would be free to enter into an arrangement with successor governments or the British government.
• After the first general elections, a province would be free to leave a group, and after 10 years, a province would be free to call for a reconsideration of the group or the union constitution.
• Meanwhile, the constituent assembly was to form an interim government.