---
title: "Cripps Mission 1942: Aims & Failure | Model Diplomat"
description: "The Cripps Mission (1942) offered India post-war Dominion status and a constituent assembly to win wartime support; the Congress rejected it. Why it failed."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/cripps-mission-1942"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- The Cripps Mission was a March 1942 British attempt to secure Indian cooperation in the Second World War by offering post-war Dominion status and a constituent assembly.
- Why did the Indian National Congress reject the Cripps proposals?
- What was the 'local option' or opt-out clause in the Cripps offer?
- How did the Cripps Mission differ from the Cabinet Mission of 1946?
- What were the consequences of the Cripps Mission's failure?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

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## Timeline

1. 15 February 1942

   Its legal and political basis lay in the deteriorating military situation following Japan's entry into the war: Singapore fell on , Rangoon was abandoned in…

2. 22 March 1942

   Cripps arrived in Delhi on and conducted negotiations with leaders of the Indian National Congress, the All-India Muslim League, the Sikhs, the Depressed Cl…

3. 8 August 1942

   The failure of Cripps directly precipitated the Quit India Movement, launched by the Congress on .

## Positions at a glance

### Indian National Congress

The procedural mechanics centred on a published Draft Declaration containing two temporal components. For the post-war future, Britain promised the creation of a new Indian Union with full Dominion status, equal in every respect to Britain and free to remain within or secede from the Commonwealth. A constitution-making body would be elected by the provincial legislatures after the war, with Indian States invited to appoint representatives. For the immediate war period, however, Britain reserved control of defence and undertook only to associate Indian leaders with the wartime government through an expanded Executive Council. Cripps arrived in Delhi on 22 March 1942 and conducted negotiations with leaders of the Indian National Congress, the All-India Muslim League, the Sikhs, the Depressed Classes, and the Princes over the following three weeks.

### All-India Muslim League

The procedural mechanics centred on a published Draft Declaration containing two temporal components. For the post-war future, Britain promised the creation of a new Indian Union with full Dominion status, equal in every respect to Britain and free to remain within or secede from the Commonwealth. A constitution-making body would be elected by the provincial legislatures after the war, with Indian States invited to appoint representatives. For the immediate war period, however, Britain reserved control of defence and undertook only to associate Indian leaders with the wartime government through an expanded Executive Council. Cripps arrived in Delhi on 22 March 1942 and conducted negotiations with leaders of the Indian National Congress, the All-India Muslim League, the Sikhs, the Depressed Classes, and the Princes over the following three weeks.

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Example

In April 1942, the Indian National Congress, advised by Jawaharlal Nehru and Maulana Azad, rejected Stafford Cripps's Draft Declaration, with Mahatma Gandhi dismissing it as a "post-dated cheque on a crashing bank."

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