Cripps Mission

Cripps Mission 

a mission of the British government to India in March 1942 during World War II, headed by R. S. Cripps.

The aim of the mission was to strengthen Great Britain’s position in India by making concessions to the Indian nationalist movement. The mission conducted negotiations with leaders of the Indian political parties on the basis of a declaration of the British government, which pledged immediately after the war to grant India the rights of a dominion; for the drawing up of a new constitution a body would be created which would include representatives from both the British provinces and the princely states; those provinces and princely states which did not wish to enter the Union of India could either retain their previous relationship with Great Britain or form separate dominions. Since the leadership of India’s largest party, the National Congress, rejected these proposals (because they did not contemplate the creation of an Indian national government prior to the end of the war), the Cripps talks ended in failure.