Correspondence Between M.A. Jinnah, Viceroy Wavell, and the Hindu Mahasabha on Executive Council Formation

Sub title : Negotiations, Demands, and Principles for Muslim League Representation in the Interim Government

Subject: M.A. Jinnah–Lord Wavell correspondence | Executive Council expansion | Muslim League representation

Date of publication: 1945

Language: English

Page: 11.p

Source: National Archives of Pakistan

Serial no: 28475

Keyword: M.A. Jinnah correspondence 1945 -- Lord Wavell -- Executive Council negotiations -- Muslim League demands -- Hindu Mahasabha population demand | Defence Minister controversy -- Interim Government 1945 -- Safeguards for minorities -- Pre-Cabinet Mission talks

Abstract: This file contains crucial correspondence from June–July 1945 between Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Viceroy Lord Wavell, and his secretary Sir Evan Jenkins regarding the composition of the proposed expanded Executive Council (Interim Government). It includes Jinnah’s letter outlining the Muslim League’s three fundamental demands—confidential consultation for selection, exclusive League membership for Muslim nominees, and effective safeguards against majority decisions—and Wavell’s reply refusing to guarantee all Muslim members be from the League. Also included is a statement of the Hindu Mahasabha demanding representation based strictly on population and a Hindu Defence Minister. The documents reveal the pivotal deadlock over communal representation that preceded the Cabinet Mission.

Description: This collection of centers on the high-stakes political negotiations in the summer of 1945 over expanding the Viceroy’s Executive Council into an interim national government. The core consists of multiple copies and drafts of Jinnah’s letter of 7 July 1945 to Viceroy Wavell, asserting the Muslim League’s conditions for participation, and Wavell’s polite but firm refusal (9 July) to guarantee that all Muslim members would be Leaguers. Also present are the Viceroy’s earlier procedural suggestions and a forceful press statement from the Hindu Mahasabha demanding representation strictly proportional to population and insisting on a Hindu Defence Minister. These documents capture the fundamental clash of principles—communal parity versus population-based representation—that characterized the final years of British rule in India. SCANNED BY: NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF PAKISTAN.

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