Subject: Polity
The idea of a Constituent Assembly to frame a new constitution for India was first floated in 1934 by M.N. Roy, a pioneer of the country’s communist movement. In 1935, the Indian National Congress (INC) formally demanded an Assembly, and by 1938 Jawaharlal Nehru declared that a truly independent India must have its constitution framed by a body elected on the basis of adult franchise, free from external influence. Although the British Government initially accepted the idea in principle with the August Offer (1940), further proposals—such as Sir Stafford Cripps’ draft in 1942, which was rejected by the Muslim League—led to the eventual Cabinet Mission Plan that paved the way for the Assembly’s formation.