Eternal India Encyclopedia

Eternal India encyclopedia

FREEDOMMOVEMENT

The Congress accepted the Cabinet Mission’s plan but rejected the Viceroy's proposal for an interim government because the Viceroy had accepted Jinnah's demand that the Con- gress would not be allowed to nominate a Muslim and agreed to participate in the Constituent Assembly to frame the Constitu- tion. The Muslim League demanded that the Viceroy should proceed with the formation of an interim government even though the Congress would not participate in it. This the Viceroy refused to do for he had already declared it was to be a government of all the parties who had accepted the Cabinet Mis- sion's Plan. The Viceroy thereupon appointed a ‘caretaker’ government of officials. Following Nehru's declaration at a Con- gress meeting that the Congress would go to the Constituent Assembly uncommitted to any plan (‘they would remain in that Assem- bly as long as they thought it was for India's good and they would come out when they thought it was injuring their cause’), the League withdrew its acceptance of the Cabinet Mission's proposals and announced a pro- gramme of ‘Direct Action ’ to achieve Pakistan. On August 6, 1946 Lord Wavell invited the Congress to form the interim gov- ernment and the latter accepted the invita- tion. The League fixed August 16, as Direct Action Day. Bloody riots broke out in Calcutta {‘The Great Calcutta Killing ’) with the Muslim League Government there un- willing or unable to control the riots until British troops were called in. Hindus mostly were the victims there. There were outbreaks of communal violence in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh in which Muslims suffered. The Congress took office in early September and the Muslim League fearing isolation joined in October. But the League came with the idea of wrecking rather than cooperating and its next step was to boycott the Constituent Assembly in December. On February 20, 1947 the British Gov- ernment declared its intention to quit India and appointed Lord Mountbatten, Viceroy of India, to arrange for the transfer of power to Indian hands. The Congress Committee accepted the inevitability of the partition of India in a resolution passed on March 8 1947 : ‘ During the past seven months India has witnessed many horrors and tragedies which have been enacted in the attempt to gain political ends by brutal violence , murder and coercion.

We surrender to the Indian People: The following resolution was adopted by the NCSC on 22nd February 1946 regarding their surrender. On the advice and intervention of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, we have decided to surrender ourselves in the hands of the Indian people. Sardar Patel has taken the respon- sibility and assures us that there will be no victimisation of our comrades. We are grateful to the citizens of Bom- bay and particularly our comrades-in-arms, the students, the workers in the docks, trans- port and factories, for the solidarity and support they extended to our cause.” The naval mutiny and the formation of the INA must have created grave doubts in the British about the loyalty of their Indian troops upon whom their rule in India de- pended. The Viceroy, Lord Wavell, an- nounced the remission of sentences already passed on the INA men and announced that the remaining trials would be restricted to only soldiers who were accused of brutal methods to force their colleagues to join the INA. On February 19,1946 the British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, announced that three members of the British Cabinet would be visiting India to explore the early realisa- tion of self-government in India. ‘Whether the decision of despatching a Cabinet Mis- sion was hastened by the revolt of naval ratings it is difficult to say. It is however sig- nificant that the mission of Sir Stafford Cripps was also announced just three days after the fall of Rangoon in Japanese hands; (R.C. Majumdar, History of the Freedom Move- ment in India). The Cabinet Mission con- sisting of Pethick Lawrence, Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander reached India at the end of March 1946. The Cabinet Mission recommended a federal type of government for India. The Federal Government would deal with For- eign Affairs, Defence and Communication. The other powers would be invested in the provinces and the states. The Union consti- tution was to be framed by a Constituent Assembly. The Cabinet Mission further rec- ommended the establishment of an interim national government by the reconstitution of the Viceroy's Executive Council from among the leaders of the various parties. The Muslim League accepted the Cabi- net Mission’s proposals reiterating that a sov- ereign Pakistan still remained its objective. Cabinet Mission

bad food and the most outrageous racial dis- crimination. Also, today, with the end of the war the problem of demobilisation and reset- tlement has come for all the thousands of us. We have innumerable times made representations to the authorities for the redressal of our grievances, particularly about racial discrimination and for equality of treatment...But the authorities never listened. Therefore, following the example of the brothers in the RIAF, we decided to go on strike. For the last five days we have been on a peaceful, disciplined, organised strike. The authorities, however, have refused to listen to us. Instead, they have called up the military, particularly British troops, since naturally they could not trust our Indian Army brothers. They opened fire on us in Castle Barracks and forced us to take to arms to defend ourselves. Now the Flag officer is threatening us with total destruction using the over whelm- ing armed forces of the Empire. No Indian could expect us to surrender on such humiliating terms, to bend so low before the threatening jack-boot of our imperialist rulers. But we know too that the Flag officer will carry out this threat unless, you, our people, and our respected political leaders come to our aid. You do not want your Indian brothers to be destroyed by British bullets, you know our demands are just, you must support us... We appeal to you all, particularly to the leaders of the Congress, League and Com- munist parties. Use all your might to prevent a bloodbath in Bombay! Force the Naval authorities to stop shoot- ing and threats and to negotiate with us!... We appeal to you, our brothers and sis- ters, to respond, We await your reply.

"The INA episode and the recent Royal Indian Air Force and Royal Indian Navy strikes have rendered the coun- try a very great service. The gulf that separated the people from the armed forces has once for all been bridged. The people and the soldier have come very close to each others. They have now come to realise that they both have one common aim - the freeing of their country from the foreign yoke".

-Jawaharlal Nehru

The tragic events have demonstrated that

there can be no settlement of the problem in