Correct answer: (d) India should be given Dominion status
Explanation
- A
India should be granted complete independence
Complete independence (purna swaraj) was Congress’s Lahore (1929) demand, not what Cripps offered. Cripps promised Dominion status after the war, with a right to secede later, not immediate complete independence. This option is not the key.
- B
India should be partitioned into two before granting independence
Partition into two before independence was not the Cripps design. Provinces could later opt out of the Union, which hinted at Pakistan, but the plan did not enact partition first. This option is wrong.
- C
India should be made a republic with the condition that she will join the Commonwealth
A republic obliged to join the Commonwealth was not the Cripps formula. Dominion status inside the British Commonwealth was the offer; republican status came with the 1950 Constitution. This option is not the key.
- D
India should be given Dominion status
The Cripps Mission (1942) envisaged that after the Second World War India would be given Dominion status, with a constitution-making body and a British Indian Union that provinces could join or leave. That Dominion-status promise is the official key.
Summary. Official key is (d) India should be given Dominion status. Stafford Cripps brought the War Cabinet’s draft: post-war Dominion status, a constituent assembly, and protection for provinces that stayed out. Congress rejected it over an immediate national government and the viceroy’s veto; the League wanted a clearer Pakistan. The offer was not purna swaraj, not prior partition, and not a republic-with-Commonwealth condition in those terms.