The Cabinet Mission Plan

M AD E BY:
H AM AD H USAIN
Purpose/Background of
Cabinet Mission Plan
The Cabinet mission plan was the final attempt of the British to settle the
differences between the league and congress. It had become clear that the
British would soon be leaving India. Before this the British wanted to set up
a future constitution for India. The Jinnah and Muslim league wanted
Pakistan a separate Islamic state for the Indian Muslims. The congress did
not want to partition India and have the majority of India under their rule. A
three man delegation consisting of Sir Stafford Cripps, A.V. Alexander and
Lord pethick-lawerace was sent to India to find a settlement acceptable to
all. The aim of the plan was:
• To transfer of power and control from the British to the Indians, thus
granting them autonomy.
• To obtain an agreement with the Indian leaders as to the framing of a
constitution for India.
• To formulate a constitution-making body (the Constituent Assembly of
India).
• To establish an Executive Council with the support of the major Indian
parties.
 Proposals of the plan
• When the plan was first announced it proposed the setting up of a interim
government while the British withdrawal was organized. The government would
form a All India commission consisting of member from provincial and central
legislatures, and later it would decide whether there should be one or two states
after the British left.
• Since both parties had many differences and could not find common ground, the
mission came up with its own set of proposals in May 1946.The Dominion of India
would be granted independence, without any partition.
• The provinces would be divided into three groups/sections:
• Group A: Madras, Central Provinces, UP, Bihar, Bombay and Orissa
• Group B: Punjab, Sindh, NWFP and Baluchistan
• Group C: Bengal and Assam

• The Muslim-majority provinces were grouped into two groups and the remaining
Hindu-majority in one of the groups.
• The central government at Delhi would have powers over the defense, foreign
affairs, communications and currency. The rest of the powers would be vested with
the provinces.
• A constituent assembly would be set up for writing a new constitution for the
country. An interim government would be established until a new government was
formed on the basis of the constitution written by the constituent assembly.
Outcome of the plan
The plan was a complete failure as the plan was rejected, due to a difference in the views of the
Congress and Muslim league.

Reasons for failure

The Congress objected on The Muslim League The Muslim League The Muslim League
the grouping of provinces. believed that the thought that the Cabinet accepted the plan , but
provinces of Group B and Mission Plan would not be the Congress did not
C would gradually form a acceptable to the accept the Plan.
separate identity and Congress, as a result, it
would decide to secede thought that the British
into Pakistan. government would have to
invite the League to form
the interim government.
The Direct Action day
The Muslim League Council proclaimed
16th August 1946 as ‘Direct Action Day’ in
order to accentuate their demand of a
separate Muslim homeland after the
British left the Indian subcontinent. Their
main aim was to attain a different country
with a Muslim majority. The Muslims,
feared that British might just leave India
and make it sort it out its own problems.
This would result in Muslim suffering at the
hands of the Hindus, so they wanted to
demonstrate the hindus and British their
strength.
Events and Outcome of the
Direct Action Day
League leaders gave fiery speeches at the rally which
got the massive crowd excited, this was followed by
large-scale rioting in Calcutta. Around 4000 people
were killed on the first day. The riots involved killing,
rape, forced conversions and looting, this communal
violence soon spread to other parts of northern India
particularly Bihar. Noakhali (now in Bangladesh) saw
gruesome violence, the violence witnessed during and
after the Direct Action Day has also been called the
Great Calcutta Killings. Some of the places saw rioting
on the scale of what can be termed genocide, India’s
independence was overshadowed by thousands of
people getting killed or tortured in various riots
particularly in eastern, northern and north-west India.
The Calcutta killings were the first of such pre-
independence rioting, all this bloodshed and communal
tensions ultimately led to the Congress’s acceptance of
the partition of the country in order to suppress the
violence and blood bath.
Towards Independence
After the Direct Action day the British asked Nehru
to form a executive council which would serve as a
interim government. It consisted of 14 seats 5 for
Congress, 5 for the league and 1 member each
representing the Sikh, Parsee, Indian Christian and
scheduled caste communities. At first the League
rejected it and refused to nominate members in it
until the Congress swore that it had no right to
nominate Muslims., but later Jinnah recognized it
importance. Therefore 5 league members were
nominated including Liaqat Ali Khan and one hindu.
Elections were held for the constituent assembly
but the league members refused to attend. On this
the congress demanded the resignation of the
league from the executive council or the
congressmembers would resign. The British prime
minister Atlee decided to take some action.
Background/Purpose of
the 3 June Plan
When all of Mountbatten’s efforts to keep India united
failed, he asked Ismay to chalk out a plan for the
transfer of power and the division of the country. It was
decided that none of the Indian parties would view it
before the plan was finalized.
However, before the announcement of the plan, Nehru
who was staying with Mountbatten as a guest in his
residence at Simla, had a look at the plan and rejected
it. Mountbatten then asked V. P. Menon, the only Indian
in his personal staff, to present a new plan for the
transfer of power. Nehru edited Menon’s formula and
then Mountbatten himself took the new plan to
London, where he got it approved without any
alteration. Attlee and his cabinet gave the approval in a
meeting that lasted not more than five minutes. In this
way, the plan that was to decide the future of the Indo-
Pak Sub-continent was actually authored by a Congress-
minded Hindu and was approved by Nehru himself.
The plan was made public on June 3, and is thus known
as the June 3rd Plan.
Clauses of the plan
▪The Provincial Legislative Assemblies of Punjab and Bengal were to meet in two groups, i.e., Muslim
majority districts and non-Muslim majority districts. If any of the two decided in favor of the division
of the province, then the Governor General would appoint a boundary commission to demarcate the
boundaries of the province on the basis of ascertaining the contiguous majority areas of Muslims and
non-Muslims.
▪The Legislative Assembly of Sindh (excluding its European Members) was to decide either to join the
existing Constituent Assembly or the New Constituent Assembly.
▪In order to decide the future of the North West Frontier Province, a referendum was proposed. The
Electoral College for the referendum was to be the same as the Electoral College for the provincial
legislative assembly in 1946.
▪Baluchistan was also to be given the option to express its opinion on the issue.
▪If Bengal decided in favor of partition, a referendum was to be held in the Sylhet District of Assam to
decide whether it would continue as a part of Assam, or be merged with the new province of East
Bengal.
Outcome of the June 3 Plan
On May 31, and on June 2 Lord Mountbatten met
seven Indian leaders. These were Nehru, Patel,
Kriplalani, Quaid-i-Azam, Liaquat, Nishtar and Baldev
Singh. After these leaders approved the plan,
Mountbatten discussed it with Gandhi and convinced
him that it was the best plan under the
circumstances.
After the plan was accepted only these were the
problems that remained:
▪There was still need to draw boundaries between
Muslim and non Muslim areas.
▪The issue of the princes had to be resolved.
▪It was still undecided the division of assets was to be.
▪Pakistan's relationship with Britain still had to be
resolved.
The Radcliffe award
Radcliffe's appointment as the Chairman of the Boundary
Commissions, however, did not generate much controversy though
he had neither the background in Indian administration, nor did he
have any prior experience of adjudicating disputes of this sort.
Radcliffe had to counter some pressures while making his award.
He had to appear even handed to all sides, while keeping in mind
the imperatives of British policy for the future of the subcontinent.
Radcliffe Award was the outcome of an official plan
announced by Lord Mountbatten on 3 June 1947
regarding the partition of India into two separate
sovereign states - India and Pakistan. Sir Cyril John
Radcliffe was called upon to chair the Boundary
Commissions in India. The Radcliffe award was
announced on 16th August. The partition was not
done fairly as many of the Muslim majority areas
e.g. Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Calcutta and many other
were given to India. This also caused disputes
among the Muslims and hindus over Kashmir, which
has continued up till present day. Give these Muslim
majority areas to India were last minute changes.
The league was disappointed by the unfair partition
and Jinnah regarded the award as ‘wrong, unjust
and perverse’. Nothing could be done as the
partition was only a few days away.
The Indian Independence Act
The British passed the Indian Independence act
on 15th July 1947. The act ordered that from
15th August, 1947, two independent dominions
by the names of India and Pakistan. These
dominion were to have complete freedom to
pass any act or bill they wished and the
government of India act 1935 was to be the
provisional constitution until replaced.
On 14th August a new country ‘Pakistan’ came
into existence. India declared it’s independence
on 15th August. This marked the end of the
British hostility to the Pakistan and the
subcontinent and was the end of the British
rule.
Thank
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