Topic 4 - The Road to Independence, 1942 - 48

It was a meeting that promised Congress self rule in return for fighting in WWII. This was disliked by everyone

Both sides hardened their stance after the failure of the Cripps mission. Britain censored the press and intercepted Congress' communications. They also considered plans to arrest and deport their leaders. India hoped to free from Britain and make peace with Japan

Congress leaders weren't sure if it was the right thing to do and delayed the decision

August 1942

Option 1 - dominion status and provinces could opt out, option 2 - Pakistan. option 1 gets agreed on, but only if individual states opt out

Gandhi wanted a satygraha after the failure of the Cripps mission. He backs it in August

The Raj became anxious, Linlithgow said it was the most serious rebellion since 1852, the Raj sent in troops

Britain was struggling with econimics, India provided £1.5 million towards the army and a modernising programme

There were more Indians involoved in the Civil Service. Higher tariffs on imported Indian goods. Indian capitalists and entrepreneurs were investing in their own country

In August 1941, Roosevelt and Churchill agree to the Atlantic Charter, the Cripps mission may have been made to please USA

They had more sympathy towards the situation of India, they had meetings with politicians in 1938

It was a hartal organised by Jinnah. Violence broke out

Violence against a certain community

They felt that they didn't have a full understanding of the situation

They wanted to discover the strength of the support for Pakistan

They won 90% of seats

They won 75% of all Muslim votes, 90% of all Muslim seats and all 30 of the Muslim seats in the central assembly

It didn't have a clear result , a non-ML member took control but the ML had the largest number of votes

The ML begame widely supported. This gave Jinnah a powerful mandate

They showed that Congress still had the majority vote, but the ML had more support

Attlee sent a 3 man mission to resolve the situation had promised to give India independence. He wanted the greatest possible effort to keep India united (this seemed to rule out Pakistan but not the idea of a seperate Muslim state). They stayed for 3 months but didn't succeed in breaking the deadlock between Congress and the Muslim League

He gave a speech. this outraged Jinnah and cause the whole agreement to fall apart. This contributed to Direct Action