Cripps Mission

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The Cripps Mission was a failed attempt in late March 1942 by the British government to secure full Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II. The mission was headed by a senior minister Sir Stafford Cripps. Cripps belonged to the left-wing Labour Party, which was traditionally sympathetic to Indian self-rule, but he was also a member of the coalition War Cabinet led by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who had long been the leader of the movement to block Indian independence. Cripps was sent to negotiate an agreement with the nationalist Congress leaders (including Gandhi), and Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League, who was the representative of the Muslim population of the subcontinent. Cripps worked to keep India loyal to the British war effort in exchange for a promise of elections and full self-government (Dominion status) once the war was over. Cripps discussed the proposals, which he had drafted himself with the Indian leaders, and published them. The Congress rejected his proposals and knew that the British were negotiating from a weaker position. In August 1942, the Congress working committee, taking advantage of the government's weakness, made a call that unless the 'Quit India' call was conceded, the Congress would resort to civil disobedience and call the people to resist and violate government authority. In response, the British imprisoned Congress' leadership for the duration of the war. Jinnah, to whom Cripps had offered the right to opt out of a future union with India, supported the war effort with his fellow Muslims and gained in status in British eyes. Jinnah was “surprised” to see that the right to opt out of a future union was undertaken.