CMP(12) Congress Working Committee
Resolutions in May-June 1946
Documents included
Comment Apart from opposing grouping, the Congress had also been consistent in stressing the need for a Union Centre and on the issue of the non binding nature of the Mission Plan recommendations on the Constituent Assembly. The Cabinet Mission disagreed. Following the correspondence between Congress
President Maulana Azad and the Cabinet Delegation on May 20-22[CMP(11)], the
Congress Working Committee spelled out its stance in a resolution. "The Working Committee has given careful consideration to the statement dated 16th May 1946, issued by the Delegation of the British Cabinet and the Viceroy on behalf of the British Government, as well as the correspondence relating to it that has passed between the Congress President and the members of the Delegation. They have examined it with every desire to find a way for a peaceful and cooperative transfer of power and the establishment of a free and independent India. Such an India must necessarily have a strong central authority capable of representing the nation with power and dignity in the counsels of the world. In considering the statement, the Working Committee have kept in view the picture of the future in so far as this was available to them from the proposals made for the formation of a Provisional Government and the clarification given by the members of the Delegation. This picture is still incomplete and vague. It
is only on the basis of the full picture that they can judge and come
to a decision as to how far this is in conformity with the objectives
they aim at. These objectives are : independence for India; a strong
though limited, central authority; full autonomy for the Provinces; the
establishment of a democratic structure in the Centre and in the units;
the guarantee of the fundamental rights of each individual so that he
may have full and equal opportunities of growth, and further that each
community should have opportunity to live the life of its choice within
the larger framework. The statement issued by the Cabinet Delegation and the Viceroy contains certain recommendations and suggests a procedure for the building up of a Constituent Assembly, which is sovereign in so far as the framing of the Constitution is concerned. The Committee do not agree with some of these recommendations. In their view it will be open to the Constituent Assembly itself at any stage to make changes and variations, with the proviso that in regard to certain major communal matters a majority decision of both the major communities will be necessary. ... There is a marked discrepancy in these two separate provisions, and it would appear that a measure of compulsion is introduced which clearly infringes the basis principle of provincial autonomy. In order to retain the recommendatory
character of the statement, and in order to make the clauses consistent
with each other, the Committee read paragraph 15 to mean that, in the
first instance, the respective Provinces will make their choice whether
or not to belong to the Section in which they are placed. Thus the
Constituent Assembly must be considered as a sovereign body with final
authority for the purpose of drawing up a Constitution and give effect
to it. The Working Committee consider that the connected
problems involved in the establishment of a Provisional Government and
a Constituent Assembly should be viewed together... In absence of a
full picture, the Committee are unable to give a final opinion at this
stage."
(2) The position is
that since the Indian leaders, after prolonged discussion, failed to
arrive at an agreement the Delegation put forward their recommendations
as the nearest approach to reconciling the views of the two main
parties. The scheme stands as a whole and can only succeed if it is
accepted and worked in a spirit of cooperation. The reasons for the grouping of the Provinces are well known and this is an essential feature of the scheme and can only be modified by agreement between the parties. The right to opt out of the groups after the constitution-making has been completed will be exercised by the people themselves, since at the first election under the new Provincial Constitution this question of opting out will obviously be a major issue and all those entitled to vote under the new franchise will be able to take their share in a truly democratic decision.." (end excerpts)
Regarding the Interim government, agreement could not be reached with Jinnah, with the Viceroy sometimes advocating his stance, sometimes opposing it. In 1945, Jinnah had wanted Muslim League to have half the seats in the Union Cabinet i.e., parity with all other parties combined in recognition of the separateness and parity of Pakistan with Hindustan[ CMP(19)]. By this he meant that the other minorities and Scheduled Caste appointees should share the other half of the Cabinet posts with the Caste Hindus. Since that was an extravagant demand, in 1946 Jinnah held out for parity between the League and the Congress[CMP(10)] and also demanded a say in the appointment of minorities and Scheduled castes' appointees, while refusing to allow Congress to appoint a Congress Muslim in its own quota of seats.[CMP(12C) : Behind the scenes-Jinnah] After a month of discussions on
various formulae for the Interim Government, the Congress Working
Committee passed a resolution on 25th June. Resolution of the Working Committee of the Indian National Congress on the Cabinet Mission Plan, 25 June 1946(excerpts) "On May 24, the Working Committee passed a resolution on the statement dated May 16 issued by the British Cabinet Delegation and the Viceroy. In this resolution, they pointed out some defects in the statement and gave their own interpretation of certain parts of it. Since then, the Committee has been continuously engaged in giving earnest consideration to the proposals made on behalf of the British Government in the statements of May 16 and June 16[announcement of Interim Government composition and terms], and have considered the correspondence in regard to them between the Congress President and Members of the Cabinet Delegation and the Viceroy. The Committee has examined both these sets of proposals from the point of view of the Congress objective of immediate independence and the opening out of avenues leading to the rapid advances of the masses economically and socially, so that their material standards may be raised and poverty, malnutrition, famine and lack of necessaries of life may be ended, and all the people of the country may have freedom and the opportunity to grow and develop according to their genius. These proposals fall short of these objectives. Yet the Committee has considered them earnestly in all their aspects because of their desire to find some way for the peaceful settlement of India's problem and the ending of the conflict between India and England. The kind of independence which Congress has aimed at is the establishment of a united democratic Indian Federation with a Central authority which would command respect from the nations of the world, maximum provincial autonomy, and equal rights for all men and women in the country. The limitation of the Central authority, as contained in the proposals, as well as the system of grouping of Provinces weakened the whole structure and was unfair to some Provinces, such as the North-West Frontier Province, and Assam, and to some of the Minorities, notably the Sikhs. The Committee disapproved of this. They felt, however,
taking the proposals was a whole, that there was sufficient scope for
enlarging and strengthening the Central authority and for fully
ensuring the right of a Province at act according to its choice in
regard to grouping, and to give protection to such Minorities as might
otherwise be placed at a disadvantage. In the formation of a Provisional or other Government, Congressmen can never give up the national character of Congress, or accept an artificial and unjust parity, or agree to a veto of a communal group. The Committee
are unable to accept the proposals for formation of an Interim
Government as contained in the statement of June 16. The Committee
have, however, decided that the Congress should join the proposed
Constituent Assembly with a view to framing the Constitution of a free,
united and democratic India.." Comment |
Update
in 08/09:
http://sites.google.com/www.geocities.com is closing down in end-October 2009. The new location of this website is: site/cabinetmissionplan/ Home Page 2 Secondary sources on Page 3 CMP(1) - From Ayesha Jalal's 'The Sole Spokesman'< CMP(2)
- The Congress League positions on 12 May 11946
CMP(3) - The Cabinet Mission Plan 16 May 1946< CMP(8)
- More exchanges on parity during Simla Connference meeting 11 May
1946
CMP(9)- Jinnah's Conversations with Major Wyatt(1) on Pakistan and the Cabinet Mission Plan , 8 January and 25 May 1946 CMP(10) - Jinnah's Conversations with Major Wyatt(22) on the interim government, 11 June 1946 CMP(12A) Congress and the Cabinet Mission's arguments over inclusion of a Congress Muslim in the Interim Government June 12 and June 23 1946 CMP(13)- Jawaharlal Nehru's press conference on the Plan, 10 July 1946 CMP(14) - League withdrew from Plan, called Direct Action, Viceroy Wavell talked to Nehru, July-August 1946 CMP(15) - The Viceroy tried to strong-arm Nehru andd Gandhi on compulsory grouping, Pethick Lawrence to Attlee, August-September 1946 CMP(16)- Intelligence
assessment on Jinnah's options and threat of civil war, September 1946
CMP(17)- The League's boycott of the Constituent Assembly, Jinnah and Wavell, Mission insisting on compulsory grouping, etc October 1946-January 1947 CMP
(A1) - Additional material - Some Plain speaking from Sir Khizr Hayat,
Abell on the Breakdown plan, Viceroy to Jinnah
CMP(A2) North West Frontier Province, October-November 1946 and February-March 1947 CMP(A3) Bengal and Bihar, August - November 1946 CMP(A4) Punjab, February - March 1947 CMP (18) - My take CMP (19) - What did parity and communal veto mean in numbers? CMP(20) Another summary /take on the Cabinet Mission Plan-with links to the above reference material CMP(21) Mountbatten discusses the Cabinet Mission Plan with Sardar Patel and M. A. Jinnah, 24-26 April 1947 CMP(22) A reply on the Cabinet Mission Plan Extra(1) - Speech by Jinnah in March 1941 outlining the case for an independent sovereign Pakistan Extra(1A) Jinnah's Speeches and Statements from 1941-1942 Extra(1B) Jinnah's Speeches and Statements from 1938-1940 Extra(1C) Jinnah's speeches and Statements from 1943-45 Extra(2) - Jinnah's letter to Gandhi during Gaandhi-Jinnah talks in 1944 on defining Pakistan Extra(3)- B.R. Ambedkar quoted from his book 'Pakistan or the Partition of India' |