With reference to the proposals of Cripps Mission, consider the following statements:

The Constituent Assembly would have members nominated by the Provincial Assemblies as well as the Princely States.
Any Province, which is not prepared to accept the new Constitution would have the right to sign a separate agreement with Britain regarding its future status

To gain India’s cooperation in the War, the British Government, headed by Conservative Prime Minister Winston, sent a mission headed by a cabinet minister, Sir Stafford Cripps, to India in March 1942.
Some of the Cripps proposals, embodied in a Draft Declaration, were:
- Immediately after the war, an Indian union with dominion status would be established, with the right to secede from the Commonwealth.
- Any Indian province could stay outside the Indian Union and directly negotiate with Britain.
- The princely states that did not wish to accede to India could continue in their pre-existing relations with the British crown.
- After the war, a constituent assembly would be set up.
  - The members would be elected by the provincial assemblies and nominated by the rulers in the case of the princely states.
  - In the meantime, the actual control of defence and military operations would be retained by the British Government.
- The proposals also promised the protection of minorities.
- The British government would accept the new constitution subject to two conditions:
  - Any province unwilling to join the Union could have a separate constitution and form a separate Union.
  - The constitution-making body and the British government would engage in negotiations to draft a treaty that would effect the transfer of power and protect the rights of racial and religious minorities.

Pandit Nehru and Maulana Azad were the official Congress negotiators with Cripps Mission.
They objected to:
- The provision for Dominion Status rather than complete independence (Purna Swaraj).
- Right of the provinces to secede (It went against the policy of national unity).
- The British Government’s refusal to accept the Congress demand for the immediate transfer of effective power to Indians.
- The representation of the princely states in the constituent assembly by the nominees of the rulers rather than by the people of the states.
Mahatma Gandhi called the proposal a post-dated cheque on a tottering bank.
Almost all the Indian parties rejected this Declaration.
The Muslim League criticised the idea of a single Indian union and demanded a definite declaration by the British in favour of the creation of a separate state for the Muslims.
The Hindu Mahasabha and liberals criticised the provision of the right of the provinces to secede.
The Depressed Classes, the Sikhs, the Indian Christians, and the Anglo-Indians demanded more safeguards for their communities.