Cripps Mission
The Cripps Mission was a failed attempt in late March 1942 by the British government to secure full Indian cooperation and support for their efforts in World War II.
Jinnah, to whom Cripps had offered the right to opt out of a future union with India, supported the war effort with his fellow Muslims and gained in status in British eyes.
The resulting standoff led to the en masse resignation of Congress Provincial Governments, giving rise to the prospect of public revolt and political disorder in India.
The All India Muslim League, the Hindu Mahasabha and regional parties gave their support to Britain and the war effort in exchange for various concessions.
The Labour Party ministers and moderate Conservatives were keen to advance Indian progress to self-government in a way that would not endanger the war effort.
The chief American strategic objective was aiding Chiang Kai Shek's physically isolated Nationalist China against the expanding Japanese Empire.
In addition, the Franklin Roosevelt administration was busy formulating its vision for the post-war world order and saw the decolonisation of Asia as a matter of US national interest for both ideological and commercial reasons.
Despite the conflicts of interests, Britain's reliance on the United States for Lend-Lease supplies for the war effort meant that US President Franklin Roosevelt's pressure had to at least appear to be taken seriously, especially in light of the military disasters in South East Asia.
Angry over the decision made by the Viceroy, some Congress leaders favoured launching a revolt against the British despite the gravity of the war in Europe, which threatened Britain's own freedom.
Others, such as Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, advocated offering an olive branch to the British and supporting them in that crucial time in the hope that the gesture would be reciprocated with independence after the war.
However, Rajagopalachari, backed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Maulana Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru, held talks with Cripps and offered full support in return for immediate self-government, and eventual independence.
Cripps began by offering India full dominion status at the end of the war, with the chance to secede from the Commonwealth and to go for total independence.
Privately, Cripps also promised to get rid of Linlithgow and grant India dominion status with immediate effect and insisted only for the Indian Defence Ministry to be reserved for the British.
However, in public, Cripps failed to present any concrete proposals for greater self-government in the short term other than a vague commitment to increase the number of Indian members of the Viceroy's Executive Council.
The invasion force contained elements of the Indian National Army, which had been founded and led by Subhas Chandra Bose to end British control of India.
