The British Cabinet Mission of 1946 to India aimed to discuss and plan for the transfer of power from the British Government to Indian leadership, providing India with independence. Formulated at the initiative of Clement Attlee, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the mission consisted of Lord Pethick-Lawrence, theSecretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Cripps, President of the Board of Trade, and A. V. Alexander, the First Lord of the Admiralty. Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India, did not participate.

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The Mission’s purpose

• Hold preparatory discussions with elected representatives of British India and the Indian states in order to secure agreement as to the method of framing the constitution.
• Set up a constitution body.
• Set up an Executive Council with the support of the main Indian parties.

The Mission held talks with the representatives of the Indian National Congress and the All-India Muslim League, the two largest political parties in the Constituent Assembly of India. The two parties planned to determine a power-sharing arrangement between Hindus and Muslims to prevent a communal dispute, and to determine whether British India would be better-off unified or divided. The Congress party under Gandhi-Nehru nexus wanted to obtain a strong central government with more powers compared to state governments.

The All India Muslim League under Jinnah wanted to keep India united but with political safeguards provided to Muslims such as ‘guarantee’ of ‘parity’ in the legislatures. This stance of the League was backed up by the wide belief of Muslims that the British Raj was simply going to be turned into a ‘Hindu Raj’ once the British departed; and since the Muslim League regarded itself as the sole spokesman party of Indian Muslims, it was incumbent up on it to take the matter up with the Crown.

The Cabinet Mission arrived in India on 23 March 1946 and in Delhi on 2 April 1946. The announcement of the Plan on 16 May 1946 was preceded by the Simla Conference of 1945 in the first week of May. The focal point of the plan was the preservation of the ‘single state’. It provided for a Union of India comprising both British India and the states. The Union was to deal with the subjects of foreign affairs, defence and communications. It envisaged the formation of three groups of provinces: Section A to comprise the six Hindu majority provinces of Madras, Bombay, U.P., Orissa, C.P., Bihar; Section B, the provinces of the Punjab, NWFP, Sind, and Baluchistan; while the provinces of Bengal and Assam were to form Section C.

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The plan also promised that the provinces and the states will be the basic units and all subjects other than the Union subjects and all residuary powers would vest in the provinces. Para 8 of the 16 June statement of the Cabinet Delegation and the Viceroy stated that: ‘In the event of the two major parties or either of them unwilling to join in the setting up of a coalition government on the above lines, it is the intention of the Viceroy to proceed with the formation of an interim government which will be as representative as possible of those willing to accept the statement of May 16.’ Jinnah interpreted it thus: ‘To me that if the Congress refuses to join an interim government composed as proposed in that statement while the League agreed to do so, then the Viceroy would go ahead and form the government as proposed but without the Congress representatives.’

The Mission and the Viceroy interpreted it differently. They considered that since both parties had now accepted the statement of 16 May, paragraph 8 required that fresh efforts should be made to form an interim government. Jinnah protested that this interpretation had been dishonestly concocted by the legalistic talents of the Cabinet Mission.’ Consequent upon this ‘breach of faith’ the All India Muslim League Council passed a resolution to withdraw its acceptance (6 June 1946) of the Cabinet Plan on 28 July 1946. The Viceroy later unilaterally invited Congress to form the government on 6 August 1946. The Muslim League later joined the government on 25 October 1946.

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Communism is a socio-economic system structured upon common ownership of the means of production and characterized by the absence of social classes, money, and the state; as well as a social, political and economic ideology and movement that aims to establish this social order.

Communism was first developed into a scientific theory by German philosopher and social scientist Karl Marx, and the collective understanding of this scientific approach is today commonly referred to as Marxism. According to Marxism, capitalism is a historically necessary stage of society, which has led to the concentration of social classes into two major groups: proletariat – who must work to survive, and make up a majority of society – and bourgeoisie – a minority who derive profit from private ownership of the means of production.

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The political, social, and economical conflict between both groups (class struggle), each attempting to push their interests to their logical extreme, will lead in to the capture of political power by the proletariat.The result is communism: a stateless, classless and moneyless society, structured upon common ownership of the means of production.

Communism, the political and economic doctrine that aims to replace private property and a profit-based economy with public ownership and communal control of at least the major means of production (e.g., mines, mills, and factories) and the natural resources of a society .Communism is thus a form of socialism—a higher and more advanced form, according to its advocates. Exactly how communism differs from socialism has long been a matter of debate, but the distinction rests largely on the communists’ adherence to the revolutionary socialism of Karl Marx.

Marx identified two phases of communism that would follow the predicted overthrow of capitalism: the first would be a transitional system in which the working class would control the government and economy yet still find it necessary to pay people according to how long, hard, or well they worked; the second would be fully realized communism—a society without class  divisions or government, in which the production and distribution of goods would be based up on the principle “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”

The October Revolution, led by Lenin, consisted in the capture of political power in Russia by a Marxist party, resulting in the creation of the Soviet Union, with the aim of developing socialism and eventually communism.

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Communism is the idea of a free society with no division or alienation, where the people are free from oppression and scarcity. A communist society would have no governments, countries, or class divisions. In Marxist theory, the dictatorship of the proletariat is the intermediate system between capitalism and communism, when the government is in the process of changing the means of ownership from privatism to collective ownership.

Marx and Engels maintained that the poverty, disease, and early death that afflicted the proletariat (the industrial working class) were endemic to capitalism: they were systemic and structural problems that could be resolved only by replacing capitalism with communism. Under this alternative system, the major means of industrial production—such as mines, mills, factories, and railroads—would be publicly owned and operated for the benefit of all. Marx and Engels presented this critique of capitalism and a brief sketch of a possible future communist society in Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848), which they wrote at the commission of a small group of radicals called the Communist League.

Marx, meanwhile, had begun to lay the theoretical and (he believed) scientific foundations of communism, first in The German Ideology (written 1845–46, published 1932) and later in Das Kapital (1867; Capital). His theory has three main aspects: first, a materialist conception of history; second, a critique of capitalism and its inner workings; and third, an account of the revolutionary overthrow of capitalism and its eventual replacement by communism.

In the 19th century, Karl Marx described these social reformers as “utopian socialists” to contrast them with his program of “scientific socialism” (a term coined by Friedrich Engels).

Communism, the main characteristic of human life in class society is alienation; and communism is desirable because it entails the full realization of human freedom. communism’s outlook on freedom was based on an agent, obstacle, and goal. The agent is the common/working people; the obstacles are class divisions, economic inequalities, unequal life-chances, and false consciousness; and the goal is the fulfillment of human needs including satisfying work, and a fair share of the product.

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Vikramasila University was one of the two most important centres of Buddhist learning in India during the Pala dynasty, along with Nālandā University.Vikramasila was established by King Dharmapala (783 to 820) in response to a supposed decline in the quality of scholarship at Nalanda.

Vikramasila (village Antichak, district Bhagalpur, Bihar) is located at about 50 km east of Bhagalpur and about 13 km north-east of Kahalgaon, a railway station on Bhagalpur-Sahebganj section of Eastern Railway.

Vikramaśila was founded by Pala king Dharmapala in the late 8th or early 9th century. It prospered for about four centuries before it was destroyed by Bakhtiyar Khilji during fighting with the Sena dynasty along with the other major centers of Buddhism in India  around 1200.

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Vikramasila is known to us mainly through Tibetan sources, especially the writings of Taranatha, the Tibetan monk-historian of the 16th-17th centuries.

Vikramasila was one of the largest Buddhist universities, with more than one hundred teachers and about one thousand students. It produced eminent scholars who were often invited by foreign countries to spread Buddhist learning, culture, and religion.

The most distinguished and eminent among all was Atisa Dipankara, a founder of the Sarma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Subjects like philosophy, grammar, metaphysics,  Indian logic etc. were taught here, but the most important branch of learning was tantrism.

A fortified Vikramaśīla was destroyed by Muslim invaders fighting the Sena dynasty along with the other major centers of Buddhism in India around 1200. The remains of the ancient university have been partially excavated at village Antichak in the Bhagalpur district, Bihar state, India, and the process is still underway.

The university lies on top of the hill on the banks of the River Ganga. There was a temple at the center of university enshrining the life-size copy of the Mahabodhi tree. 53 small temples were in the vicinity for the study of the Guhyasamaja Tantra. Another 54 ordinary temples were also there. The main temples had statues of Nagarjuna and Atisa at the entrance. Santipa, Jetari, Ratnavajra, Jnanasrimitra, Naropa and Atisa were great scholars at Vikramshila University at that period of time.

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Vikramasila was one of the largest Buddhist universities, with more than one hundred teachers and about one thousand students. It produced eminent scholars who were often invited by foreign countries to spread Buddhist learning, culture, and religion. The most distinguished and eminent among all was Atiśa Dipankara, a founder of the Sarma traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Subjects like philosophy, grammar, metaphysics, Indian logic etc. were taught here, but the most important branch of learning was tantrism.

Vikramasila was a centre for Vajrayana and employed Tantric preceptors. The first was Buddhajnanapada, followed by Dipaṁkarabhadra and Jayabadhra. The first two were active during Dharmapāla’s reign, the third in the early to mid portion of the 9th century. Jayabadhra was the first prominent commentator on the Cakrasamvara tantra. Sridhara was the next preceptor, followed by Bhavabhaṭṭa. The latter, also a prominent commentator on Cakrasamvara, may have been the maha Siddha Bhadrapada. He, in turn, was succeeding by three more prominent Cakrasamvara commentators, Bhavyakirti, Durjayacandra, and Tathagatarakṣita.

The Vikramshila site is the place for Vikramshila Mahotsav, which is held annually during the month of February.

Vikramasila was neglected for years which contributed to extensive damages to the monument A.S.I. is now planning to develop the excavated site of Vikramshila University.

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On the evening of 30th January, 1948, at his daily prayer meeting Gandhiji was shot dead by a young man from Pune named Nathuram Godse. Coincidently Nathuram Godse was the editor of an extremist Hindu Newspaper that had declared Gandhiji as ‘an appeaser of Muslims”.

Rich tributes were paid to him from across the political class in India and moving appreciations came from international figures like Albert Einstein and George Orwell.

Time Magazine compared his martyrdom to that of Abraham Lincoln. Time wrote “The world knew that it had, in a sense too deep, too simple for the world to understand, connived to his (Gandhiji’s) death as it had connived to Lincoln’s.”

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Brief Biography of Mahatma Gandhi

The beginning

Monandas Karamchand Gandhi was born on 2nd October, 1869 at Porbandar in Gujarat. His father was Diwan in a small principality of Rajkot. He went to England for his degree in law.

Days in South Africa

After getting degree he started his legal practice in Bombay and from there he went to South Africa in 1893.

A famous historian, Chandran Devanesan, has said, South Africa was “the making of the Mahatma”. It was during the course of his struggle against the policy of the racial discrimination of the South African Government, he forged the distinctive techniques of Satyagraha (non-violent protest for truth and justice).

Return back to India

Gandhiji returned to India in January, 1915, after two decades to residence in a foreign country. He was then forty six years old.

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First public appearance of Gandhi

Gandhiji’s first important public appearance was at the opening ceremony of the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) in February, 1916.

There in his speech he emphatically said, “There is no salvation for India unless you strip yourself of this jewellery that hold it in trust for your countrymen in India,” he went on “our salvation can only come through the farmer; neither the lawyers, nor the doctors, nor the rich landlords are going to secure it.”

Sabarmati Ashram

Gandhiji founded Sabarmati Ashram at Ahmedabad in 1916, to promote and practice the ideas of truth and non-violence.

Champaran Satyagraha

In December, 1916, at the annual session of Congress that was held in Lucknow, he was approached by a peasand from Champaran (in Bihar) who narrated him about the harsh treatment of peasants by British Indigo planters.

From Champaran Gandhiji’s first experiment in Satyagraha initiated. Gandhiji defied the orders of the officials and refused to leave the place. Eventually he succeeded in clinching some relief for the peasants.

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Fast unto death for mill workers in Ahemadabad

In 1918, Gandhiji undertook fast unto death to resolve a dispute between the workers and millowners of Ahmedabad. His fast forced mill owners to compromise and they agreed to raise the wages of the workers up to thirty five percent.

Rowlatt Act and Satyagraha Sabha

Gandhiji in order to oppose the Rowlatt Act, founded the Satyagraha Sabha in 1919. March 30, 1919 was celebrated as Satyagraha Day all over India.

Hartal of 1919

Gandhiji gave a call for hartal on April 6, 1919 that culminated Jallianwalla Bagh massacre. The Satyagraha continued till April 18, 1919.

Non-cooperation Movement

In August, 1920, Gandhiji started his Non-cooperation movement. The movement, a non-violent one, spread all over India with great speed. As a consequence of this movement, for the first time since the revolt of 1857, British Raj was shaken to its foundations.

However in February 1922, a violent incident happened at Chauri Chaura in which a mob attacked and torched a police station in which twenty two policemen died.

This incident prompted Mahatma Gandhi to immediately suspend the movement altogether.

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Charge of sedition and arrest

Gandhiji was arrested on the charge of Sedition in March 1922. He was released from the prison in February, 1924.

Works for Social Empowerment

From 1924 to 1928 Gandhiji remained busy in promoting Khadi (home spun cloth) and the abolition of untouchability.

Dandi March and Civil Disobedience Movement

Gandhiji Started his Civil Disobedience Movement by his famous Dandi March on March 12, 1930. The movement continued amidst the repressive policy of the Government till the beginning of 1931.

Gandhi-Irwin Pact and Second Round Table Conference

Eventually in 1931, Gandhi-Irwin Pact was signed, on which basis the movement was halted for a year, Gandhiji went to London in 1931 to take part in the Second Round table conference as the sole representative of the Congress.

However this conference failed, and Gandhi ji returned to India as a frustrated person and resumed Civil Disobedience.

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Communal Award

In 1932, Gandhiji went on fast unto death against the Communal Award declared by the British Prime Minister Macdonald.

Civil Disobedience Movement finally revoked in 1934.

Quit India Movement

In August 1942, “Quit India Campaign” was launched by Mahatma Gandhi. Gandhi jee was put behind the bar at once. ‘Quit India’ was genuinely a mass movement in which hundreds of thousands of ordinary Indians took part.

At the time of the end of Second World War, in 1944, Gandhi ji was released after that Gandhi jee spent most of his life trying to bridge the gap between the Muslim League and the Congress. But he failed and India was divided into two countries. And the entire blame went to Gandhi ji.

Independent India and Gandhi

On 15th August 1947, Gandhi Jee was not present at the festivities in the capital. He marked the day with a 24 hour fast in Calcutta. He started to visit hospitals and refugee camps giving consolation to grief striken people.

End of a Life and birth of a legend

On 20 January 1948, some people attacked Gandhiji with an intention to kill him but he continued with his worked without any sign of weakness. At last a fanatic got the success on the evening of 30th January, 1948 and murdered the Mahatma which shook the soul of the entire nation.

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