“24” “The C.

R formula & Jinnah-Ghandi Talks 1944”

• On July 14, 1942, the Congress Working Committee passed a solution calling upon the
British Government to quit India immediately.
• It believed that as the war had reached the Indian borders the British Government would
be compelled to yield to the demand made in the resolution.
• The Quaid-i-Azam called the Quit India Movement a step towards establishing Hindu Raj
in India.
• With the passing of the resolution by the All-India Congress Committee on August 8, a
series of rioting and sabotage began throughout the country. Railway stations were set
ablaze and railway tracks were uprooted.
• The Government outlawed the INC and on August 9, 1942, the whole Congress leadership
including M.K. Gandhi was arrested.
• On November 12. 1942, Chakarwarti Rajagopalacheria (C.R) had a meeting with Lord
Linlithgow, the Viceroy, and requested him to allow him to meet Gandhi so that he could
arrange some sort of settlement between the Congress and the All-India Muslim League.
However, the Viceroy refused to do so.
• When Gandhi realised that the Quit India Movement was heading for a failure, he wrote
a letter to the Viceroy on July 27, 1942. He assured the Viceroy that if the British
Government announced the immediate freedom of India and created a national
government accountable to the Central Assembly, he would ask the INC to withdraw the
Movement. However, the Viceroy tamed down his suggestion.
• In these circumstances, the INC had no option but to turn to the AIML for some sort of
reconciliation.
• Before this time, Rajagopalachana was the only person who was seeking some
understanding with the Muslims although to further his own vested interests.

C.R Formula:-
• In a letter to the Quaid on April 8, 1944, Chakarwarti Rajagopalacharia (C.R) wrote, "Here
is the basis for a settlement which I discussed with Gandhiji in March 1943, and of which
he expressed full approval. He then authorised me to signify his approval of these terms
should I be able to convince you of their being just and fair to all”.
• The Formula presented by Rajagopalacharia was as follows:-

“This is the basis of the terms and conditions for an agreement between the INC and the AIML to
which Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Jinnah have agreed. They would try to get it approved from their
respective parties.
 1. Subject to the terms set out below as regards the constitution of Free India, the Muslim
League endorses the Indian demand for independence and will cooperate with the
Congress in the formation of a provisional interim government for the transitional period.
2. After the termination of the war, a commission shall be set to demarcate the contiguous
Muslim majority districts in the north-west and east of the country. After the demarcation
of these district, a plebiscite of all the inhabitants held on the basis of adult suffrage or
some other practicable franchise shall ultimately decide the issue of separation from
Hindustan. If the majority of the people living in these areas voted in favour of forming a
sovereign state separate from Hindustan the decision would be enforced without any
prejudice the right of districts on the border to join either state
3. Before the referendum, all the political parties would be free to advocate their viewpoint
to the public.
4. In the event of separation of the two states mutual agreements would be entered into
for safeguarding defence, commerce, communications and for other essential purposes.
5. The transfer of population between the states shall only be an absolutely voluntary basis.
6. These terms and conditions would come into force only when the British Government
transfers full power and responsibility for the governance of India.
Quaid’s Reaction:-

• Making the best use of his legal expertise, the Quaid-i-Azam studied in detail each and
every aspect of the CR. Formula and rejected it.
• The first point that he raised was that if, as Rajagopalacharia had claimed, the Formula
had the full backing of Gandhi, why he had not presented it directly to the President of
the AIML.
• If the Formula did not enjoy the support of the Congress, a discussion only on its various
aspects would only mean the wastage of time.
• The Quaid-i-Azam pointed out the following flaws and inconsistencies in the Formula:-
1. The League was asked to support the Congress for the independence of India. In other
words, the League was being accused that it had hitherto been opposed to the Indian
independence.
2. Who would appoint the boundary commission? Who would be its members? Who would
be responsible for the implementation of the decisions of the commission?
3. The Formula envisaged the transfer of responsibilities but it did not specify as to when
and to whom these responsibilities would be transferred; to the Hindus, to the Muslims
or to both?
4. Instead of the Muslims, all the people were being given the right to take part in the
referendum.
5. If the commission drew up the boundaries of the Muslim majority districts, then
afterwards, there would be no need for any referendum,
 6. Rajagopalacharia had claimed that his Formula contained those things which the Muslims
had demanded in the Lahore Resolution.
• The Quaid-i-Azam called the Formula "a parody and a negation of the Lahore Resolution.
To him it was "the greatest travesty" to say that the Formula conceded all that the League
had demanded.
• The Quaid was of the view that the CR. Formula was "offering a shadow and a husk, a
maimed, mutilated and moth-eaten Pakistan".
Conclusions:-

• Despite all its shortcomings, the C.R. Formula is significant in the history of the sub-
continent, because it was for the first time that s prominent Hindu leader talked of an
understanding with the Muslims or the basis of the partition of India.
• Secondly, in September 1944, Jinnah and Gandhi held negotiations in Bombay on the
basis of this very Formula.

Jinnah-Ghandi Talks:-
• On July 17, 1944, Gandhi wrote a letter to the Quaid expressing his desire to have a
meeting with him to discuss the on-going Hinds Muslim disputes.
• The Quaid-i-Azam agreed and the All-India Muslim League Working Committee
empowered him to hold negotiations with M.K. Gandhi.
• The first meeting between the two leaders was held in Bombay on September 9, at the
Quaid's residence at the Mount Pleasant Road Malabar Hill.
• This series of meetings continued till September 23 During the course of these meetings,
twenty-five hours were spent in discussions. At the same time, both the leaders
exchanged letters in addition to the verbal discussions.
• Gandhi's real purpose behind these talks was to extract from Jinnah an admission that
the whole proposition of Pakistan was absurd.
• Quaid-i-Azam painstakingly explained the basis of the demand of Pakistan. "We
maintain", he wrote to Gandhi, "that Muslims and Hindus are two major nations by any
definition or test of a nation. We are a nation of a 100 million. We have our distinctive
outlook on life and of life. By all the cannons of international law, we are a nation". He
added that he was "convinced that the true welfare not only of the Muslims but of the
rest of India lies in the division of India as proposed in the Lahore Resolution".
• Gandhi on the other hand maintained that India was one nation and saw in the Pakistan
Resolution "Nothing but ruin for the whole of India". "If, however, Pakistan had to be
conceded, the areas in which the Muslims are in an absolute majority should be
demarcated by a commission approved by both the Congress and the Muslim League. The
wishes of the people of these areas will be obtained through referendum. These areas
shall form a separate state as soon as possible after India is free from foreign domination.
There shall be a treaty of separation which should also provide for the efficient and
 satisfactory administration of foreign affairs, defense, internal communication, custom
and the like which must necessarily continue to be the matters of common interest
between the contracting countries".
• This meant, in effect, that power over the whole of India should first be transferred to
Congress, which thereafter would allow Muslim majority areas that voted for separation
to be constituted, not as independent sovereign state but as part of an Indian federation.
• Gandhi contended that his offer gave the substance of the Lahore Resolution.

Failure of Talks:-

• The Gandhi-Jinnah parleys broke down, because of differences on such primary issues as
the representative character of the All India Muslim League, the Two-Nation Theory- the
bedrock of the Pakistan demand and the scope and machinery of the plebiscite and
whether independence should precede self-determination or vice versa.
• Louis Fischer was justified in writing that there stood between Gandhi and Jinnah, the
wall of the Two-Nation Theory. The face of one negotiations was apparent right from the
start, because all the Hindu leaders were unanimous that the negotiations should be held
only on the basis of a United India and nothing should be talked about the partition of
India.
• Sir Chamanial Setalvad expressed his delight at the failure of the talks and said that he
not at all regretted at the breakdown of the negotiations, because they were based on
the vicious principle of partition of India.
• It is interesting to note the observations of the Muslims about the Jinnah-Gandhi parleys.
Khawja Shahab-ud-Din, Minister of Industries & Trade, Bengal, was of the opinion that
"The Congress and the Muslims will soon realise that Pakistan is the only solution of the
political and communal problem of India".
• Moulvi Tamizuddin Khan, Educational Minister of Bengal, expressed full support of
Muslim India over the stand taken by the Quaid in the negotiations.
Importance:-

• The failure of the Jinnah-Gandhi talks, in fact, was another victory of de Quaid-i-Azam and
the All-India Muslim League. M.K. Gandhi who was a bitter opponent of the idea of
partitioning the sub-continent at last prevailed upon to discuss this issue at length during
the course of these marathon discussions.
• The Morning News (Calcutta) rightly commented that the termination of the talks was not
a 'failure" because good deal of mutual understanding had gone forth, from one side to
the other. Mr. Jinnah wanted a partition and Mr. Gandhi notwithstanding his assertions
to the contrary, had been converted to grant it.
• These negotiations afforded an opportunity to the Quaid-i-Azam to explain all the doubts
and ambiguities about the Two-Nation Theory and the demand for Pakistan. These talks
further strengthened the position of the Quaid-l-Azam.
• According to an Indian writer, "these talks were a clear-cut victory of M A. Jinnah and, in
this way, he had won half the battle for Pakistan”. The reputation and position of the
Quaid was considerably boosted by these talls. Moreover, the standpoint of the League
was also strengthened.