The Cripps plan provided that if the Indian states did not join the Union of India even after India's independence and continued to be allies of the British Crown, then the Ghori government would do so under treaties made with the native-states in AD 1818. To protect the states, the Imperial Troops (Imperial Army) would be placed in those states.
Provision was made in the plan that if a country-state participates in the Constituent Assembly but does not join the Union after the making of the constitution, then that state will again attain its present status, but it will have to join the new union with railways, postal etc. And adjustments will have to be made on topics of community importance like strings. Cripps said that it is the desire of the British government that all the country-states should join the Union of India, but the government will not forcefully ask them to do so by breaking the treaty obligations.
Cripps advised the native states that the first step should be taken by the small states to form their own groups or to establish federal relations so that the spirit of co-operatively based groups can be extended to the larger units. A king asked Cripps whether under the new circumstances the kings should contact the political parties of British India? In response to this question, Cripps said that my advice is that the rulers of the states should establish contact with the leaders of British-India so that the kings can be comfortable during the future constitutional changes.
On 2 April, Cripps told the three kings, who had come to meet him, angrily - 'They will have to decide their decision with Congress or Gandhi because we are now going to travel from India with bed sacks. '
Through this resolution, the British government accepted India's claim of independence for the first time and said that India would be given the status of an independent colony. Staying in the British Commonwealth will depend on his will. The most controversial point of the plan was that any province of India could be independent by making its own constitution. This was done keeping in mind the demand of Pakistan. The Cripps-Mission did not specify any period for granting colonial independence. Its appearance was vague and uncertain.
The demand for Pakistan was taken a step further by the Muslim League in the Cripps Mission. In this, in order to please the native states and the Muslim League, those states and provinces were given the freedom that they could join the Indian Union voluntarily. The Muslim-majority provinces got the right to remain separate from the Indian Union. In the native states, no importance was given to knowing public opinion. The native monarchs were given the right to appoint representatives of their states. In this way, a quarter of the members of the Constitution-Making Council would come in an undemocratic manner and they, being conservative, would have opposed the progressive reforms.
The government encouraged the communal elements by giving the British provinces the right to join the union or not. The Muslim League was adamant on the demand for the creation of Pakistan, but the Sikhs of Punjab strongly opposed this demand of the Muslim League. The whole of Punjab was included in the Pakistan demanded by the Muslim League, but the Sikhs of Punjab were not ready to go to any other country outside India at any cost. The Cripps-Mission talked about protecting the interests and rights of minorities but did not present their clear explanation.
The Dalit and backward classes were also dissatisfied with the Cripps-Mission report. He said that there is no provision to protect his interests in the Cripps-Plan. The Cripps Mission made a provision to keep the responsibility of the defense of India in the hands of the Indians and not with the British Government. This was not acceptable to the Congress. Thus all the parties became dissatisfied with the Cripps offer. Congress, Hindu-Mahasabha and Muslim League refused to accept these proposals.
In the Cripps proposal, the British-provinces and princely states had the freedom to form their own separate federation or remain separate from the federation, but if they were allowed to do so, then a situation like Balkan-nation would have arisen in India. The whole country was feeling that this proposal of Cripps lacked practicality because the border of all the princely states of the country was attached to the territory of British-India. So how could such a union work!
On 11 April the Congress and the Muslim League rejected the Cripps proposal. Cripps left for London on 22 April 1942. His mission failed, due to which the kings breathed a sigh of relief. The Congress was particularly disappointed by this double move of the kings. He made statements against the kings. Nehru patted those who called the kings rascals, cunning or fools.
The Cripps Commission returned unsuccessfully, but the failure of the Cripps Commission was in fact the greatest diplomatic success of the British Government. Churchill warmly congratulated Cripps for being uninterested in any amendments and assurances to the plan. Churchill did not at all want India to be given independence.
When the mission failed, Winston Churchill informed the Allies- 'The only way to accept the demands of the Congress would have been to leave the Harijans and minorities at the mercy of the majority Hindus. Churchill convinced US President Roosevelt that Indian leaders are not mutually unanimous.'
The failure of the Cripps mission led to suspicions that either the British government had stabbed the Cripps in the back or, in the words of the Dequess- 'The cunning Cripps merely by deceit, deceit, treachery and double-handedness. were taking work and had no remorse at all!'
Lord Wavell wrote in his diary on 27 July 1943 - 'Prime Minister Churchill hates India and everything related to it. … that worshiper of British imperialism would go mad at the mere thought of making India independent.'
According to Gandhiji- 'Cripps scheme was a future date check whose bank was about to expire.