Previous Year Question
After Quit India Movement, C Rajagopalachari issued a pamphlet entitled ‘The Way Out’. Which one of the following was a proposal in this pamphlet?
Correct Answer: D
Detailed Solution
Option (d) is correct.
C. Rajagopalachari published The Way Out: A Plea for Constructive Thought on the Present Political Situation in India in 1943.
Its purpose was to suggest a negotiated solution to the constitutional and political deadlock between the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League.
Rajagopalachari believed that the British government was using Congress–League differences to postpone the transfer of power.
His conciliatory approach subsequently emerged as the C.R. Formula or Rajaji Formula of 1944.
Important provisions of the C.R. Formula:
The Muslim League would endorse the demand for complete independence.
The League would cooperate with the Congress in forming an interim or provisional government.
After the Second World War, a commission would demarcate the contiguous Muslim-majority districts in north-western and north-eastern India.
A plebiscite of the entire population of these areas would determine whether they wished to separate from India.
In the event of separation, mutual agreements would be concluded regarding defence, commerce, communications and other essential matters.
Implementation of the plan was conditional upon Britain transferring complete power to India.
Mahatma Gandhi used this formula as the basis of the Gandhi–Jinnah talks in September 1944. Jinnah rejected it because it did not concede the Muslim League’s demand for Pakistan in its complete form.
Association of the other options:
The establishment of a War Advisory Council was associated with the August Offer of 1940.
The proposal to make all members of the Executive Council Indians, except the Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief, was associated with the Wavell Plan of 1945.
Therefore, these proposals should not be associated with Rajagopalachari’s The Way Out.