The British Cabinet Mission of 1946 to India proposed to discuss and settle plans for the transfer of power from the British Raj to Indian leadership. The Mission was to provide India with independence under Dominion status in the Commonwealth of Nations. Plans were finalised and devised with the sole enterprise of Clement Attlee, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

On 19th February 1946, in Parliament, the British Government announced the forwarding of a team of three Cabinet Ministers to India to seek agreement on how to enact self-determination and Independence with the Indian political leaders. The Cabinet Mission included Lord Pethick Lawrence (1871-1961) the Secretary of State for India, Sir Stafford Cripps (1889-1952), President of the Board of Trade and A. V. Alexander (1885-1965), First Lord of the Admiralty. Cabinet Mission also received the boost of Lord Wavell, the Viceroy of India during the time.

On 24th March, the Cabinet Mission arrived at New Delhi. It proceeded to conduct talks over a three-week period with leaders of the Congress, Muslim League, Sikhs, Scheduled Castes and the Liberal leader, Sir Tej Bahadur Sapru and many others, totalling 472 individuals.

Within the days of 16th to 18th April, the Cabinet Mission met with Muhammad Ali Jinnah (1876-1948) to outline two plans, comprising a small Pakistan with sovereignty or a big Pakistan in an All-India Union. Jinnah avoided making a choice.

On 21st April, Cripps brought to the Cabinet Mission`s attention a plan secretly submitted to him by Nawab M. A. Gurmani of Punjab. Through a complex voting system, Muslim majority provinces could join a sovereign and non-Muslim majority districts could vote to join the rest of India. Jawaharlal Nehru turned the idea down and Jinnah indicated no interest.

In the days of 5th to 12th May 1946, in Shimla, the Cabinet Mission convened a conference, including four members each from the Congress Party and Muslim League. They included for the Congress: Nehru, Chandra Shekhar Azad, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and Abdul Ghaffar Khan and for the Muslim League: Jinnah, Liaqat Ali Khan, Ismail Khan and Abdur Rab Nishtar. The Government of India invited Mahatma Gandhi to come and standby if needed for consultation. The agenda treated the grouping of provinces, nature of a union and the constitution making process. Cripps` Union of All-India Plan failed to win the acceptance of either the Congress or Muslim League. On May 12th, it became evident that no solution was possible and the Mission announced the failure of the conference.

On 16th May, the Cabinet Mission announced its three-tier scheme for forming a Union of All-India consisting of Hindu-majority provinces, Muslim majority Provinces and the Indian States. On 25th June, the Congress Working Committee passed a resolution to accept the Cabinet Mission`s plan and to enter the Constituency Assembly. On 29th June, the Cabinet Mission left India with only the implicit success of having placing Congress and Muslim League in a position of having to force their way through to resolution.

On 16th June, after unsuccessful bargaining, Lord Wavell unilaterally named the fourteen members of his Executive Council. They included: six Congress Party members including one from the Scheduled Caste, five Muslim League members, one Sikh, one Indian Christian and one Parsee. If either of the major parties refused to join the Council, the Viceroy announced his intention to proceed with an Interim Government. On June 25, the Congress accepted the plan, but essentially nullified it with reservations. The Muslim League accepted Wavell`s plan.

On 29th June, the Muslim League withdrew its acceptance of both the May 16 and June 16 agreements, due to their perception of Congress Party obstinacy and the breach of faith by the British Government.

On 8th August, the Congress Working Committee accepted the invitation to form a government. On August 29 its composition included six Hindus: Jawaharlal Nehru (1889-1964), Vallabhbhai Patel (1875-1950), Rajendra Prasad (1884-1963), Sarat Chandra Bose (1889-1950), Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1879-1972) and Jagjivan Ram (1908-1986); three Muslims: Aruna Asaf Ali (1909-1996), Sir Shafaat Ahmad Khan and Syed Ali Zaheer; one Sikh: Sardar Baldev Singh (d.1961); one Parsi: C.H. Bhabha; one Indian-Christian: John Matthai (1886-1959) and two empty seats for Muslims.

Jinnah named the day of 16th August 1946, a "Direct Action Day", which passed off reasonably quietly throughout most of India except for Calcutta. Here, Husain Shaheed Suhrawardy (1893-1963), Head of the Bengal Ministry, declared a public holiday. In consequence, an idle city exploded in communal violence, resulting in 20,000 dead or injured over the following three days. The British began to restore a peace only when several British and Indian Army battalions entered the city on the evening of August 16. The Great Calcutta Killing set in motion communal violence and killing over much of India for the next several months as India moved toward Independence.

On 2nd September, Lord Wavell announced the Cabinet for the Interim Government. It included Jawaharlal Nehru as Prime Minister; Congressmen Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari, Sarat Chandra Bose, Aruna Asaf Ali and Jagjivan Ram; and minorities: Bhabha (Parsi), Matthai (Christian), Baldev Singh (Sikh) and non-Congress Muslims Shafaat Ahmed Khan and Syed Ali Zaheer.