August Offer

In 1940, Viceroy Linlithgow made the August Offer, promising to increase the number of Indians on the Viceroy of India's Executive Council, establish an advising war council, give full weight to the minority opinion, and recognise Indians' right to write their constitution (after the end of the war). In exchange, all parties and groups in India were expected to support Britain's World War II operations. However, Congress rejected this idea because minorities, particularly the Muslim League, were promised that no constitutional design would be acceptable to the government without their approval, i.e. giving the Muslim League veto power. The Muslim League accepted the offer since it guaranteed the establishment of a separate Pakistan.

In May 1940, Britain's government changed when Winston Churchill was elected Prime Minister (1940–45). Following the fall of France in June, Britain was put at immediate risk of being occupied by the Nazis. The Indian National Congress lowered its demands and promised to collaborate in the war if India's control was transferred to an interim government when the war took a dangerous turn from the Allied perspective. The August Offer, issued by Viceroy Lord Linlithgow at the time, was the British government's response to these demands. 

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The Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, made the so-called "August Offer" at Simla on August 8, 1940, early in the Battle of Britain. The offer was made in promising the expansion of the Executive Council to include more Indians, the establishment of an advisory war council, giving weight to the minority opinion, and recognition of Indians' right to frame their constitution (after the end of the war). In exchange, all parties and groups in India were expected to support Britain's war effort.

Linlithgow attempted to break the deadlock between the Congress and the Raj over public control of India's military. Linlithgow began his suggestion by emphasising that ideological divisions between the All India Muslim League and the Indian National Congress must be resolved before any meaningful constitutional compromise can be reached. Despite this, the Viceroy stated that the British administration was now willing to proceed with governmental measures that would "connect Indian public opinion with the conduct of the war."

Linlithgow was given the power to nominate a small number of Indian politicians to his executive council and to organize a war advisory council made up of princes, politicians, and anybody else interested in India's national affairs. Linlithgow, on the other hand, advised the politicians that his proposition did not imply a revision of the 1935 Government of India Act.

The statement was a significant step forward from the current situation. It acknowledged the people's natural and inherent right to select the shape of their future constitution and expressly promised Dominion status.

Proposals for August Offer

The august proposal is given below:

• After the war, a representative Indian body would be formed to draught an Indian constitution.

• The Executive Council of the Viceroy would be expanded immediately.

• The government promised the minority that power would not be transferred to "any system of government whose authority is directly disputed by substantial and influential forces in Indian national life."

Terms of the August offer:

• After the war, a representative Indian body would be constituted to draught a constitution for India. India's goal was to achieve dominion status.

• The Viceroy's Executive Council would be immediately expanded to include more Indians than whites for the first time. The defence, finance, and home portfolios, on the other hand, were to remain in British hands.

• A war advisory council was to be formed.

• Minorities were assured that no power would be transferred to “any system of an administration whose authority is directly opposed by substantial and influential forces in Indian national life.”

Political Concept Behind August Offer

The British government's intentions were trusted by Congress. As a result, according to Linlithgow, the British government "might imagine the transfer of their existing duties for India's peace to any type of Government whose authority is directly opposed by vast and powerful elements in India's national life." Furthermore, because the British Empire was preoccupied with their battle against German totalitarianism, the time was unsuitable for dealing with Indian legislative issues.

As a result, Linlithgow argued that once the war ended, India's constitutional destiny might be settled by convening a constituent assembly representing the country's major elements. On August 21, 1940, the Congress Working Committee met in Wardha and rejected the offer, reiterating its desire for complete independence from imperial rule. It increased the chasm between Nationalist India and the British monarch, according to Gandhi.

Linlithgow assumed that Jinnah desired a non-federal arrangement free of Hindu dominance because he had not taken the Pakistan proposal seriously. To assuage Muslim worries of Hindu dominance, the 'August offer' came with the assurance that a future constitution will take minority' views into account. Linlithgow's offer was not acceptable to the Muslim League, and it was rejected in September.

Response of Indian Leaders 

• At its conference in Wardha in August 1940, the INC turned down this offer. It called for complete independence from colonial domination. The concept of dominion status, according to Jawaharlal Nehru, was as dead as a doornail.

• The League likewise turned down the offer, stating that they would accept nothing less than the country's separation.

• Following this, Mahatma Gandhi launched the Individual Satyagraha to affirm the right to free expression. Because he did not desire violence, he avoided a mass satyagraha.

• Vinoba Bhave, Nehru, and Brahma Datt were the first three satyagrahis. All three were sentenced to prison.

• The Satyagrahis also began the ‘Delhi Chalo Movement,' which was a march towards Delhi.

• The movement did not gain traction and was abandoned in December 1940.

• Following the August Offer's failure, the British government dispatched the Cripps Mission to India in an attempt to gain Indian support for the war.

The August Offer: India - Pak

On August 8, 1940, His Majesty's Government produced a White Paper to earn the support of the Indian public and political parties during the war. The paper later dubbed the August Offer in history books proposed the formation of an independent Indian Constituent Assembly with entirely indigenous representation and the authority to draught the country's future constitution. 

The Viceroy's Executive Council could be extended as part of the deal. Simultaneously, the August Offer addressed the rights of minorities, particularly Muslims, by stating that the majority community would not be granted veto power and that the views of minorities would be given full weight in the creation of the Constitution. The declaration made it plain, however, that all of the promises would be fulfilled after the war, and only if all communities and political parties aided the British in their war efforts.

Individual Satyagraha 1940-41

After the August Offer, Congress was once again befuddled. Leftists and radicals wanted to launch a large-scale civil disobedience movement, but Gandhi insisted on Individual Satyagraha. The purpose of the Individual Satyagraha was to affirm the right to free speech rather than to pursue independence. Another motivation for this Satyagraha was that he did not want the United Kingdom to be embarrassed by a popular movement that became violent. 

When Gandhi met Lord Linlithgow on September 27, 1940, he expressed this viewpoint. Individual Satyagraha was founded on the principle of nonviolence. This was accomplished by picking the Satyagrahis with care. Acharya Vinoba Bhave (bhoodan movement) was the first Satyagrahi chosen, and he was imprisoned after speaking out against the war. Approximately 25,000 satyagrahis were following him. Jawahar Lal Nehru was the second Satyagrahi. Brahma Datt, one of Gandhi's Ashram inmates, was the third.

They were all sentenced to prison for breaking the Defence of India Act, and many more were incarcerated afterwards. However, because it was not a mass movement, it lacked passion, and Gandhi suspended it in December 1940. The campaign re-started in January 1941, with tens of thousands of people joining and approximately 20,000 people imprisoned.

The Cripps Proposals, which were introduced in 1942, made significant changes to the August Offer.