In March 1946, with the arrival of three Cabinet Ministers, Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and Mr. A. V. Alexander, in the negotiations between the British Government and the Indian political parties, arrived at an early settlement of the Indian constitutional issue.

Why the Mission was sent to India?

• After the Second World War, the balance of power shifted away from the Britain and towards USA and USSR. Both of them supported India’s demand for Independence.
  
  
• Even though Britain was on the winning side of the war, its economic and military might was depleted and it would take years to rehabilitate itself.
  
  
• The Labour party came to power in Britain, where most of its members supported the Indian National Congress demands for independence.
  
  
• The British Indian Government could no longer rely on the Indian personnel of its civil administration and armed forces to suppress the national movement. The INA and the famous revolt of Indian Naval Ratings had shown that patriotic ideas had entered the ranks of the professional Indian army. The other two major instruments of British rule, the police and the bureaucracy, were also showing signs of nationalist leanings.   
  
  
• The Government was also not in a position to use British soldiers to suppress another popular struggle in India as they were war weary after six years of 2^nd world war.
  
  
• The British Government, therefore, sent in March 1946 a Cabinet Mission to India to negotiate with the Indian leaders the terms of handing over power to Indians.   
  
  

A change of attitude

• Previous British proposals for the settlement of Indian constitutional issue after the war, August Offer and Cripps Mission talked only about granting ‘Dominion status’ to India. The Cabinet Mission was, on the other hand, a serious attempt by the British to handover peaceful transfer of power to India as they realized their inability to govern India after the post war nationalistic upsurge.
  
  

In contrast to previous British proposals, the Cabinet Mission plan was accepted by the Congress as well as Muslim League, though with different interpretations of the ‘grouping clause’. This finally resulted in independence of not one but two nations – India and Pakistan.