History (Modern India History :- Second World War, August Offer, Individual Satyagrahas & Cripps Mission)

Modern India History :- Second World War, August Offer, Individual Satyagrahas & Cripps Mission

Lord Linlithgow (1936-44)

 *Longest reign as viceroy of India

 *Beginning of the Second World War

 *Coming into force of the Government of India Act 1935 with provinces going to elections

 *Arrival of the Cripps Mission

 *Beginning of the Quit India Movement

 *Great Famine of Bengal (1943)

The Second World War and Nationalists Response

 *In 1937 elections were held under the provisions of the Government of India Act of 1935

 *Congress Ministries were formed in seven states of India.

 *On 1 September 1939, 2nd World War broke out

 *The British Government without consulting the people of India involved the country in the war.

 *The Congress vehemently opposed it.

 *As a mark of protest the Congress Ministries resigned in all the seven Provinces on 12 December 1939

 *The Muslim League celebrated this day as the Deliverance Day

 *In March 1940 the Muslim League demanded the creation of Pakistan.

August offer

- During the course of the 2nd World War, in order to secure the cooperation of the Indians, the British Government made an announcement on 8 August 1940, which came to be known as the ‘August Offer’, which proposed –

 *Dominion status as the objective for India.

 *Expansion of viceroy’s executive council & setting up of a constituent assembly after the war consisting of Indians to

 - decide their constitution according to their social, economic and political conceptions

 - subject to fulfilment of the obligation of the Government regarding defence, minority rights, treaties with states & all India services

 *No future constitution to be adopted without the consent of minorities.

India’s Reaction to August offer

 *The Congress rejected the August Offer

 *Nehru said, “Dominion status concept is dead as a door nail”

Individual Satyagrahas

 *Gandhi launched Individual Satyagraha against involving Indians in second world war

 *It was limited, symbolic and non-violent in nature

 *It was left to Mahatma Gandhi to choose the Satyagrahis

The aims of launching individual satyagraha were —

 *to show that nationalist patience was not due to weakness;

 *to express people’s feeling that they were not interested in the war they made no distinction between Nazism and the double autocracy that ruled India; and

 *to give another opportunity to the Government to accept Congress demands peacefully.

 *Demand of the satyagrahi would be the freedom of speech against the war through an anti-war declaration

 *Satyagraha also called for march towards Delhi, which came to be known as the “Delhi Chalo Movement”.

Points of Prominence

 *Acharya Vinoba Bhave was the 1st to offer Satyagraha and he was sentenced to three months imprisonment.

 *Jawaharlal Nehru was the 2nd Satyagrahi and imprisoned for four months.

 *The individual Satyagraha continued for nearly 15 months.

Cripps Mission

 *In March 1942, a mission headed by Stafford Cripps was sent to India with constitutional proposals to seek Indian support for the war.

Main Proposals

 *An Indian Union with a dominion status would be set up;

 *It would be free to decide its relations with the Commonwealth and free to participate in the United Nations and other international bodies.

 *After the end of the war, a constituent assembly would be convened to frame a new constitution.

 *Members of this assembly would be partly elected by the provincial assemblies through proportional representation and partly nominated by the princes.

 *The British Government would accept the new constitution subject to two conditions -

 - any province not willing to join the Union could have a separate constitution and form a separate Union, and

 - the new constitution making body and the British Government would negotiate a treaty to effect the transfer of power and to safeguard racial and religious minorities.

 *In the meantime, defence of India would remain in British hands and the governor-general’s powers would remain intact.

The Congress objected to

 *The offer of dominion status instead of a provision for complete independence

 *Representation of the states by nominees and not by elected representatives

 *Right to provinces to secede as this went against the principle of national unity

 *Absence of any plan for immediate transfer of power and absence of any real share in defence

 *The governor general’s supremacy had been retained, and the demand for governor-general being only the constitutional head had not been accepted

The Muslim League objection

 *Criticized the idea of a single Indian Union

 *Did not like the machinery for the creation of a constituent assembly and the procedure to decide on the accession of provinces to the Union

 *Thought that the proposals denied to the Muslims the right to self-determination and the creation of Pakistan