Sri Aurobindo

Letters of Sri Aurobindo

Letters

Fragment ID: 6534

(this fragment is largest or earliest found passage)

Sri Aurobindo — Cripps, Sir Stafford

April 1, 1942

On the Cripps Proposal [2]¹

In view of the urgency of the situation I am sending Mr. Duraiswami Iyer to convey my views on the present negotiations and my reasons for pressing on Indian leaders the need of a settlement. He is accredited to speak for me.

Sri Aurobindo
April 1. 1942

¹ In March 1942, Sir Stafford Cripps (1889–1952), a Labour member of the War Cabinet, came to India with a proposal from the British government. Indian leaders were invited to take part in the councils of war, and were promised a constitution-making assembly after the cessation of hostilities. Cripps announced the details of the proposal in a radio talk of 30 March 1942. Sri Aurobindo responded in several ways.

On 31 March, he sent a telegram to Cripps endorsing the proposal and offering his “public adhesion”. Cripps replied to Sri Aurobindo in a telegram of 1 April 1942. Sri Aurobindo’s telegram was published in many newspapers and reproduced in the pamphlet Messages of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother (1949) and subsequently.

On 1 April, Sri Aurobindo sent his disciple S. Duraiswami, a prominent advocate of Madras, to Delhi to speak to members of the Congress Working Committee: Mahatma Gandhi, Maulana Azad, C. Rajagopalachari and others. He gave Duraiswami this letter authorising him to speak on his behalf.

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