August Offer of 1940
The British government was eager to ask India for help in the war and for that reason, Viceroy Linlithgow made a series of proposals by his “August Offer“. For the first time, the right of Indians to make their constitution was recognized.
Features
- After the war, a representative body of India would be formed to draft the Indian Constitution and state the goal of India as ‘dominion status‘.
- The Viceroy’s Executive Council would be immediately enlarged, and for the first time, more Indians than whites would be welcomed. However, the defense, finance, and interior ministries remained with the British.
- A military advisory council was to be created.
- Minorities have received assurances that power “will not be transferred to any system of government without their consent.
At the Wardha session in August 1940, the INC rejected this proposal as Congress demanded complete freedom from colonial rule. Jawaharlal Nehru said that ‘the dominance status concept is dead as a doornail’. The league also rejected the offer, stating that only a country’s division would be acceptable to them. After the failure of the august offer, the Britishers came up with the Cripps Mission in the year 1942.
Role of British Imperial Power in Complicating the Process of Transfer of Power During 1940s
The 1940s was a very complicated year for the Britishers in India. In order to seek India’s support in World war II, it came up with a number of plans and policies, clearly depicting their actual motives behind the transfer of power. India had declared “Purna Swaraj” as the goal of the congress in the 1929 Lahore session and would not subside anything less than that.