Previous Year Question
Who among the following were official Congress negotiators with Cripps Mission?
Correct Answer: C
Detailed Solution
Background of the Cripps Mission:
During the Second World War, the rapid Japanese advance and the need to obtain Indian cooperation in the war led the British War Cabinet to send Sir Stafford Cripps to India in March 1942.
At that time, Maulana Abul Kalam Azad was the President of the Indian National Congress, while Jawaharlal Nehru was a leading member of the Congress Working Committee.
Option (c) is correct.
The official Congress negotiators with Cripps were Maulana Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru.
Cripps’s report of 29 March 1942 records his meeting with both Nehru and Azad.
On 2 April 1942, the two leaders took the Congress Working Committee’s reply to Cripps and discussed the major issues, including responsibility for defence.
In a letter to Cripps, Maulana Azad also stated that he was prepared to meet the Commander-in-Chief and that Jawaharlal Nehru would accompany him.
Why are the other options incorrect?
Mahatma Gandhi met Cripps and influenced Congress policy, but he was not one of this pair of official Congress negotiators.
Sardar Patel, J.B. Kripalani, C. Rajagopalachari, Rajendra Prasad and Rafi Ahmed Kidwai were not appointed as the official Congress negotiators.
Important features of the Cripps proposals:
India was to receive Dominion Status after the war.
A constitution-making body was to be established.
A province could choose not to join the proposed Indian Union.
During the war, effective control over defence was to remain with the British Commander-in-Chief.
The Congress rejected the proposals because they did not provide for an immediate transfer of power, denied Indians effective control over defence and allowed provinces to remain outside the proposed Union.