HIS 103: The Partition of India

Dr. M Humayun Kabir

 Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946
• The Cabinet Mission sent from Britain to India in March 1946 was a step of
transfer of power from the British Government to the Indian leadership
through granting independence.

• The three men who constituted the mission, Stafford Cripps,

Pethick-Lawrence and A.V. Alexander favoured India's unity for strategic
reasons.

The main objectives of this mission were:

• Conduct preparatory discussions with elected representatives of British India and
various states of India to reach a compromise within the constitutional structure;
• Form a constitutional body;
• Formation of a working council consisting of representatives of the major political
parties of India.
 Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946
• The mission found both parties, the Indian National Congress and Muslim
League, more unwilling than ever to reach a settlement.
• The mission made its own proposals, after inconclusive dialogue with the
Indian leadership, The mission proposed a complicated system for India
with three tiers: the provinces, provincial groupings and the center.
• The center's power was to be confined to foreign affairs, defense, currency
and communications.
• The provinces would keep all the other powers and were allowed to
establish three groups.
Group A- UP, CP, Bombay, Bihar, Orissa and Madras
Group B- Sind, Punjab, Northwest Frontier and Baluchistan
Group C - Bengal and Assam
 Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946
Reactions of AIML
• Despite preference for only two groups, the Muslim League's Council accepted
the mission's proposals on 6 June 1946 after securing a guarantee from Wavell
that the League would be placed in the interim government if the Congress did
not accept the plan.
Reactions of INC
• It accepted the proposals. the Congress position that a sovereign constituent
assembly would not be bound to the plan.
• Nehru's speech on 10 July 1946 rejected the idea that the provinces would be
obliged to join a group and stated that the Congress was neither bound nor
committed to the plan.
❖ Jinnah interpreted the speech as another instance of treachery by the Congress.
With Nehru's speech on groupings, the Muslim League rescinded its previous
approval of the plan on 29 July
 Cabinet Mission Plan, 1946
• Disregarding Jinnah's veto, government authorized a cabinet in which
Nehru was the interim prime minister.
• Millions of Indian Muslim households flew black flags to protest the
installation of the Congress government.
Direct Action Day, 16 August 1946
• The 'Direct Action' also known as the 1946 Calcutta Killings announced by
the Muslim League Council to show the strength of Muslim feelings
towards its demand for an "autonomous and sovereign“ Pakistan, and
resulted in the worst communal riots that British India had seen.
• In the context of the worsening situation, Wavell was replaced by Lord
Mountbatten.
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947
• An act to make provision for the setting up in India of two independent
Dominions, to substitute other provisions for certain provisions of the
Government of India Act 1935, which apply outside those Dominions, and
to provide for other matters consequential on or connected with the
setting up of those Dominions.

VICEROY AND GOVERNOR GENERAL LORD MOUNTBATTEN

INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947
SALIENT FEATURES
• The Act provided for two dominion states : India and Pakistan
• 15 August 1947 was declared as the appointed date for the partition.
• The boundaries between the two dominion states were to be determined
by a Boundary Commission which to be headed by Sir Radcliff.
• The Act provided for partition of the Punjab and Bengal, and separate
boundary commissions to demarcate the boundaries between them.
• Pakistan was to comprise the West Punjab, East Bengal, territories of the
Sind, North West Frontier Provinces, Sylhet District of Assam, Bhawalpur,
Khairpur, Baluchistan and 8 other princely states of Baluchistan.
• The province of Bengal as constituted under the Government of India Act
1935 ceased to exist.
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947
• Alternately two new provinces were to be constituted to be known
respectively as East Bengal and West Bengal.
• The fate of the District of Sylhet in the province of Assam was to be
determined by a referendum.
• The authority of the British Crown over the princely states to be ceased
and they were free to join either India or Pakistan or remain
independent.
• Both the dominions of India and Pakistan were to have Governor Generals
to be appointed by the British Crown. The Act also provided for a
Common Governor General if both of them agreed.
• The Constituent Assemblies of both the States were free to make
constitutions of their respective countries.
• For the time being till the constitution was made, both of them would be
governed in accordance with the Government of India Act 1935.
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947
• Any modification or omission could be done by the Governor General.
• The Governor General was invested with adequate powers until March
1948 to issue orders for effective implementation of the provisions of the
Indian Independence Act 1947.
• Division of territories, powers, duties, rights, assets, liabilities, etc. was
the responsibility of the Governor General.
• Governor General was given the power to make any changes in the Act
until 31 March 1948, after that it was open to the Constituent Assembly
to modify or adopt the same Act.
• Governor General will have full powers to give assent to any law.
• The title of “Emperor of India” was dropped from the titles of British
Crown.
 INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947
• The suzerainty of His Majesty’s Government over the Indian States lapsed
and lost all the responsibility to the new dominions.
RESPONSES
• The Congress though initially reacted against the Act but later accepted it.
• Muslim League welcomed it from the very beginning and Jinnah left for
Karachi on August 7, 1947.
INDIAN INDEPENDENCE ACT OF 1947
• The Constituent Assembly of Pakistan met on 11 August 1947 and
elected Jinnah the President and was revered as the Quaid-i-Azam.
• Three days later he was sworn as the Governor General and Liaqat Ali
Khan became the Prime Minister.
• On the midnight of 14 August 1947 and 15 August 1947 Pakistan and
India came into existence
• The Constituent Assembly of India appointed Lord Mountbatten as the
First Governor General of Indian Dominion. In the morning of 15 August
1947, a new cabinet was formed headed by Jawahar Lal Nehru who was
sworn in as the Prime Minister of India.
• Thus the British presence in India came to an end after nearly three and
a half centuries of trading, two centuries of political power, and a
hundred and thirty years of general supremacy.
The Impact of Partition
The Impact of Partition
The Impact of Partition
The Impact of Partition