The Road to Freedom and Partition (1935–1947)

Prerequisites: The Gandhian Era · Gandhi and the Mass Movements

The Hook: The Plan Both Sides Accepted — and Then Lost

The Core Concept

The period is best learnt as a sequence of British proposals and Indian responses, set against the Second World War.

1. The Government of India Act, 1935

The longest Act passed by the British Parliament for India until then. Its key features:

It also abolished the Council of India that advised the Secretary of State, and separated Burma from India. Jawaharlal Nehru described the Act as “a machine with strong brakes but no engine”.

2. Provincial ministries and the war (1937–1940)

• In the 1937 elections, the Congress won a majority in five provinces and was the largest party in others; it eventually formed ministries in eight of eleven provinces.
• On 3 September 1939, Viceroy Linlithgow declared India a party to the war without consulting Indian leaders. The Congress ministries resigned in October–November 1939. The Muslim League observed 22 December 1939 as “Day of Deliverance”.
• Lahore Resolution (March 1940) of the Muslim League demanded independent states for Muslim-majority areas in the north-west and east — later called the Pakistan Resolution.

3. August Offer and Individual Satyagraha (1940)

• August Offer (8 August 1940): dominion status as the objective; expansion of the Viceroy’s Executive Council; a War Advisory Council; an Indian body to frame a constitution after the war; no future constitution without the consent of minorities. The Congress rejected it.
• Individual Satyagraha (from October 1940): a limited protest against the war effort through selected individuals — Vinoba Bhave was the first satyagrahi, Jawaharlal Nehru the second.

4. Cripps Mission (March 1942)

With Japan advancing through South-East Asia, Sir Stafford Cripps came to win Indian support for the war. He offered:

• Dominion status after the war, with the right to leave the Commonwealth;
• a constitution-making body after the war, elected by provincial assemblies and with members nominated by the princes;
• the right of any province to stay out of the new Union and frame its own constitution;
• British control of defence for the duration of the war.

The Congress rejected it (no immediate transfer of power, nominated princes, the provincial option that implied partition); the League rejected it for not conceding Pakistan clearly. Gandhi is widely reported to have called it a “post-dated cheque”.

5. Quit India (August 1942)

• The Congress Working Committee resolved at Wardha (July 1942); the AICC passed the Quit India Resolution at Gowalia Tank, Bombay, on 8 August 1942. Gandhi’s call: “Do or Die.”
• Leaders were arrested early on 9 August 1942. Aruna Asaf Ali hoisted the flag at Gowalia Tank; Usha Mehta ran the underground Congress Radio; Jayaprakash Narayan, Ram Manohar Lohia and Achyut Patwardhan led underground activity.
• Parallel governments: Ballia (UP, August 1942, under Chittu Pandey), Tamluk (Midnapore, Bengal — the Jatiya Sarkar), and Satara (Maharashtra — the longest-lasting).
• Martyrs included Matangini Hazra (Tamluk) and Kanaklata Barua (Assam).
• The Muslim League, the Communist Party of India and the Hindu Mahasabha did not support the movement.

6. The Indian National Army

• The first INA was formed in 1942 under Captain Mohan Singh from Indian prisoners of war after the fall of Singapore; Rash Behari Bose led the Indian Independence League.
• Subhas Chandra Bose reached Singapore in July 1943, took command, and proclaimed the Provisional Government of Free India (Azad Hind) on 21 October 1943. Slogans: “Delhi Chalo”, “Jai Hind”. The Rani of Jhansi Regiment was led by Lakshmi Swaminathan.
• The INA fought alongside Japan in the Imphal–Kohima campaign (1944) and retreated.
• The INA trials at the Red Fort (from November 1945) of Shah Nawaz Khan, Prem Kumar Sehgal and Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon — defended by Bhulabhai Desai, Tej Bahadur Sapru, Jawaharlal Nehru and others — set off nationwide protests.

7. Endgame (1945–1947)

Cabinet Mission groups: Group A — Hindu-majority provinces (Madras, Bombay, United Provinces, Bihar, Central Provinces, Orissa); Group B — Punjab, NWFP, Sind (and British Baluchistan); Group C — Bengal and Assam. The Congress read grouping as optional; the League as compulsory. That disagreement broke the plan.

Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947): the legislative assemblies of Punjab and Bengal would meet in two parts (Muslim-majority and other districts) and vote on partition; Sind’s assembly would choose; referendums in the NWFP and Sylhet (Assam); boundary commissions chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe would draw the lines. The award was published on 17 August 1947 — two days after independence.

Indian Independence Act, 1947: created two independent dominions; each Constituent Assembly could make any law, including repealing Acts of the British Parliament; the office of Secretary of State for India was abolished; British paramountcy over princely states lapsed; each dominion had a Governor-General. Mountbatten became India’s first Governor-General; C. Rajagopalachari succeeded him in June 1948 as the only Indian to hold the office.

graph TD
    A["GoI Act 1935"] --> B["Ministries resign 1939"]
    B --> C["August Offer 1940"]
    C --> D["Cripps Mission 1942"]
    D --> E["Quit India 1942"]
    E --> F["Wavell Plan 1945"]
    F --> G["Cabinet Mission 1946"]
    G --> H["Direct Action Day 1946"]
    H --> I["Mountbatten Plan 3 June 1947"]
    I --> J["Independence and Partition 15 August 1947"]

Memory Anchors

British offers in order — “A Cool Wave Can Move India”: August Offer (1940) → Cripps (1942) → Wavell (1945) → Cabinet Mission (1946) → Mountbatten (1947) → Independence Act (1947).

Cabinet Mission members — “PCA”: Pethick-Lawrence (chair, Secretary of State), Cripps, Alexander.

What each offered on the constitution-maker:

One-line Mains hook: Partition was “the price of freedom” — accepted by the Congress leadership in 1947 to avoid a civil war and a hollow Union.

For Prelims

For Mains

• Dimensions: constitutional (1935 Act’s legacy in the Constitution); political (Congress–League rivalry, British role); military (INA, RIN revolt and the loyalty of Indian forces); social (communal violence, refugees); international (the war, the weakened British state, the US position).
• Keywords: provincial autonomy, paramountcy, two-nation theory, grouping, transfer of power, divide and rule, demission of power.
• Value-addition: the INA trials as a rare moment of unity across Congress, League and Sikh opinion; the RIN revolt as a signal that the armed forces could no longer be relied on; Attlee’s deadline as an admission that Britain could not hold India.

Common Traps

In the News

• August 2021 — the Government of India declared 14 August as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day.
• January 2021 — the Government of India decided to observe Subhas Chandra Bose’s birth anniversary (23 January) as Parakram Diwas.

Practice

Prelims

Mains

Quick Revision

Key Takeaways

Related Topics

• Towards Independence and Partition — quick revision
• Towards Independence and Partition — practice questions
• Post-Independence Consolidation
• Constitutional Framework
• Communalism, Regionalism and Secularism