Jinnah's objections to the C.R. Formula

Jinnah wrote to Gandhiji for elucidation of various points of detail in the Rajagopalachari formula. Gandhiji in offering the clarifications sought, added that the Lahore Resolution of the League being indefinite, Rajaji had taken it the substance and given it a shape., but Jinnah in his reply claimed that Rajaji had mutilated that substance.

And so the wordy exchange continued and ended in smoke as it was bound to, because of the radical differences of approach and objectives between the Congress and the Muslim League.

Jinnah wanted the Congress to accept the two-nation theory. He also opposed the idea of a common centre. Jinnah was contending that the Muslims of India, as a separate nation, had the right of self determination, and the Muslims alone were to be entitled to vote for partition and not the whole population of the disputed areas. In other words, the right of self determination which he claimed for the Muslims was to be denied to the non-Muslims in those areas. Gandhiji refused to accept this position or the postulate of a separate nationhood.

While the Congress was ready to cooperate with the Muslim League for independence of the Indian Union, the Muslim League did not care for independence of the Union. It was only interested in a separate nation.