The Cabinet Mission Plan of 1946 was the last serious effort to keep India united. Examine its provisions, the reasons for its failure and the path it left to partition.

Introduction:

The Cabinet Mission — Pethick-Lawrence, Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander — arrived in March 1946 to negotiate the transfer of power. Its plan of 16 May 1946 remains the last constitutional design that preserved a single Indian Union.

Provisions:

The plan rejected outright Pakistan and proposed a three-tier federation: a Union centre confined to defence, foreign affairs and communications; three Groups — A (Hindu-majority provinces), B (Punjab, NWFP, Sind, Baluchistan) and C (Bengal, Assam) — that would decide their own subjects; a Constituent Assembly elected by Provincial Assemblies; and an interim government on a representative basis.

Acceptance and breakdown:

The Congress accepted the Constituent Assembly clauses but rejected mandatory grouping. The Muslim League accepted the full plan and then withdrew on 29 July 1946 after Nehru's Bombay press conference on 10 July suggested grouping was not binding. Jinnah called Direct Action Day for 16 August 1946; the Great Calcutta Killings followed — about 4,000 dead in three days. Wavell formed the Interim Government in September 1946; the Constituent Assembly first sat on 9 December 1946.

Path to partition:

The Mountbatten Plan of 3 June 1947, the Indian Independence Act of 18 July 1947, and the Radcliffe Boundary Award presented on 17 August 1947 completed the slide to partition.

Conclusion:

Sumit Sarkar reads the grouping clause as conceptually unworkable; whether different handling could have produced a loose Indian federation remains among the most discussed counterfactuals in modern Indian history.