Shameful Flight by Stanley A. Wolpert

Author:Stanley A. Wolpert
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Published: 2006-08-27T16:00:00+00:00

Shameful Flight

viceroy warned the delegation that "we should lose Mr. Jinnah's support" if they continued much longer to see Congress leaders around the clock, nor did they convince the Congress to change its mind. On June 25, the Congress Party Working Committee adopted a resolution rejecting the proposed interim government of June 16, but agreeing to join the constituent assembly proposed a month earlier by the delegation. "The kind of independence which Congress has aimed at is the establishment of a united democratic Indian Federation with a Central authority which would command respect from the nations of the world, maximum provincial autonomy and equal rights for all men and women," that resolution noted. 17

The delegation and Wavell met that evening with Jinnah to show him the Congress Party resolution. Jinnah argued that Congress had expressed "reservations" about the cabinet mission's proposed groups of provinces, which his League considered the heart of their May 16 statement, and which "broke the whole thing." 18 Pethick-Lawrence disagreed, insisting that the delegation viewed the Congress letter as a definite "acceptance" of the Mission's long-term plan. Jinnah said the groups were "essential" and Congress wanted "to smash" them and would do so as soon as they had their majority in the constituent assembly. Virtually independent groups of provinces were the only thing that had kept the Muslim League from bolting the discussions months earlier. "He begged the Delegation to make it clear that they did not accept the Congress interpretation. He had with great difficulty made substantial concessions in these negotiations because he felt that if we succeeded in making a settlement we should be blessed by 400 million people." 19 It was Jinnah's most poignant appeal to the delegation, and it would be his last attempt to persuade them.

The viceroy said it would not be possible now for him to appoint an interim government of political leaders, since the Congress Party had rejected the proposals of June 16. When Jinnah pointed out that his League had accepted them and should, therefore, be invited to propose its members for that government, the viceroy would not agree, unless Jinnah was ready to accept a Congress Muslim member. That would mean starting all over, Jinnah said, berating the delegation, and warning that to postpone the interim government was "bad for the prestige of the Delegation and also for his own prestige." 20 Pethick-Lawrence was offended by that rebuke and snapped that they "were not asking for Mr. Jinnah's opinion of their conduct." Alexander tried to lower the temperature, jumping in to say that he accepted "100 per cent" what Jinnah earlier said about "the sacrifices" he had made to help India's millions, "begging" him to use his "influence" to help the viceroy form an interim government "later." For now they were all much too weary to continue arguing. Wavell flew Up to Simla's cooler clime. The members of the cabinet mission flew home to England.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.