Introduction

The history text books of both India and Pakistan do not provide raw history of the period during which the transfer of power took place from the British Raj to the local inhabitants of the South Asia. The tainted pictures in the history books leave little room for an objective analysis of the politics of the time.

Now that 56 years have passed since that momentous occasion, it is time that period was discussed and analyzed more critically and in a dispassionate manner.

Simply put, the British wanted to leave India and transfer the power to the Indians.

While the common man went about his routine daily chores, the future of South Asia lay in the hands of the politicians of the Congress and the Muslim league. For most part, these politicians kept bungling and finally plunged the Sub-continent into a chaos.

A capsule of the raw history of the period is given below. With the wisdom of hindsight, it would be educative to get the views of Chowkies, who represent a broad spectrum of the South Asians, on the wisdom of the decisions taken by those politicians.

1940 – The Lahore Resolution

The Muslim League made Lahore Resolution as part of its constitution in 1940. This resolution gave birth to the nascent idea of a possible break up of India.

The Resolution declared: "No constitutional plan would be workable or acceptable to the Muslims unless geographical contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary. That the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in majority as in the North-Western and Eastern zones of India should be grouped to constitute independent states in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign".

Some discussion areas:

(a) Do the minorities always need a separate home land or India was special case?
(b) Was Jinnah playing the differences part too strong to make a case? Were there any commonalities as well between Muslims and Hindus of India?
(c) There is no talk of Islam in danger?
(d) There is no talk of Islamic laws for Pakistan or any ideology of Pakistan?
(e) What is meant by States?
(f) Was basing a political party on faith only against the basic egalitarian democratic concepts?
(g) ………

1942 - Cripps Mission

In 1942, the Cripps Mission gave the following proposal for the transfer of power to the Indians. The important points of the Cripps Mission declaration were as follows:

a) General elections in the provinces would be arranged as soon as the war ended.

b) A new Indian dominion, associated with the United Kingdom, would be created.

c) Those provinces not joining the dominion could form their own separate union.

d) Minorities were to be protected.

However, both the Congress and the Muslim League rejected these proposals.

Some discussion areas:

(a) It seemed a reasonable proposal. Why politicians from both sides rejected it?
(b) ……….

1944 - Gandhi-Jinnah Talks

Gandhi and Jinnah met in 1944 to resolve the conflict between the Congress and the Muslim Leauge. They views were as follows:

Jinnah said: "We maintain that Muslims and Hindus are two major nations by any definition or test of a nation. We are a nation of a 100 million. We have our distinctive outlook on life and of life. By all the cannons of international law, we are a nation". He said that he was "convinced that the true welfare not only of the Muslims but of the rest of India lies in the division of India as proposed in the Lahore Resolution".

Gandhi said: India was one nation and saw in the Pakistan Resolution "Nothing but ruin for the whole of India". "If, however, Pakistan had to be conceded, the areas in which the Muslims are in an absolute majority should be demarcated by a commission approved by both the Congress and the Muslim League. The wishes of the people of these areas will be obtained through referendum. These areas shall form a separate state as soon as possible after India is free from foreign domination. There shall be a treaty of separation which should also provide for the efficient and satisfactory administration of foreign affairs, defense, internal communication, custom and the like which must necessarily continue to be the matters of common interest between the contracting countries".

Gandhi said that his offer gave the substance of the Lahore Resolution. Jinnah did not agree to the proposal and the talks ended.

Some discussion areas:

(a) Whose stance was more fair and logical?
(b) …………


1945 – Wavel Plan – Simla Conference

The Plan suggested reconstitution of the Viceroy’s Executive Council. Different communities were to get their due share in the Council and parity was reserved for Cast-Hindus and Muslims.

To discuss these proposals with the leadership of major Indian parties, a conference was called at Simla. Leaders of both the Congress and the Muslim League attended the conference. However, differences arose between the leadership of the two parties on the issue of representation of the Muslim community. The Muslim League claimed that it was the only representative party of the Muslims in India and thus all the Muslim representatives in the Viceroy’s Executive Council should be the nominees of the party. Congress, which had sent Maulana Azad as the leader of their delegation, tried to prove that their party represented all the communities living in India and thus should be allowed to nominate Muslim representative as well. Congress also opposed the idea of parity between the Cast-Hindus and the Muslims.

All this resulted in a deadlock. Simla Conference couldn’t provide any hope of proceeding further.

Some discussion areas:

(a) What was this parity issue between Cast-Hindues and Muslims?
(b) ……….

1945-1946 – General & Provincial Elections

With the failure of the Simla Conference, Lord Wavell announced that the Central and Provincial Legislature elections would be held in the winter of 1945, after which a constitution-making body would be set up.

The two parties launched huge election campaigns. The League wanted to sweep the Muslim constituencies so as to prove that they were the sole representatives of the Muslims of Sub-continent, while Congress wanted to prove that, irrespective of religion, they represent all the Indians.

The Muslim League had a one-point manifesto "if you want Pakistan, vote for the Muslim League".

The Congress stood for United India.

The Congress was able to sweep the polls for the non-Muslim seats. They managed to win more then 80 percent of the general seats and about 91.3 percent of the total general votes. The Leagues managed to win all the 30 seats reserved for the Muslims. The results of the provincial election were not different. Congress won most of the non-Muslim seats while Muslim League captured approximately 95 percent of the Muslim seats.

The Congress claimed that the election results had vindicated the party as the biggest, strongest and the most representative organization in the country. The League declared that the election results were enough to prove that Muslim League was the sole representative of the Muslims of the region.

Some discussion areas:

(a) …………
(b) ……R 30;…


1946 – Cabinet Mission Plan

In 1946. the British government sent a special mission of cabinet ministers to India to resolve the conflict between the Congress and the Muslim League.

After extensive discussions with Congress and the Muslim League, the Cabinet Mission put forward its proposals.

The main points of the plan were:

1. There would be a union of India comprising both British India and the Indian States that would deal with foreign affairs, defense and communications. The union would have an Executive and a Legislature.

2. All residuary powers would belong to the provinces.

3. All provinces would be divided into three sections. Provinces could opt out of any group after the first general elections.

4. There would also be an interim government having the support of the major political parties.

The Muslim League accepted the plan. The Congress also accepted the plan though it rejected the interim setup.

Then, Nehru, addressing a press conference said that the Congress had agreed to join the constituent assembly but it would be free to make changes in the Cabinet Mission Plan.

After this statement, the Muslim League disassociated itself from the Cabinet Plan and resorted to "Direct Action" to achieve Pakistan.

Some discussion areas:

a) It was a fairly sensible plan. Why did Nehru reject it?
b) Why did Muslim league refuse to sit in the assembly?
c) ………….

1947 – The Final Partition Plan

On March 22, 1947, Lord Mountbatten arrived as the last Viceroy. It was announced that power would be transferred from British to Indian hands by June 1948.

Lord Mountbatten entered into a series of talks with the Congress and the Muslim League leaders. Jinnah made it clear that the demand for Pakistan had the support of all the Muslims of India and that he could not withdraw from it. With staunch extremists as Patel agreeing to the Muslim demand for a separate homeland, Mountbatten now prepared for the partition of the Sub-continent and announced it on June 3, 1947

The following were the main clauses of this Plan:

1. The Provincial Legislative Assemblies of Punjab and Bengal were to meet in two groups, i.e., Muslim majority districts and non-Muslim majority districts. If any of the two decided in favor of the division of the province, then the Governor General would appoint a boundary commission to demarcate the boundaries of the province on the basis of ascertaining the contiguous majority areas of Muslims and non-Muslims.

2. The Legislative Assembly of Sindh (excluding its European Members) was to decide either to join the existing Constituent Assembly or the New Constituent Assembly.

3. In order to decide the future of the North West Frontier Province, a referendum was proposed. The Electoral College for the referendum was to be the same as the Electoral College for the provincial legislative assembly in 1946.

4. Baluchistan was also to be given the option to express its opinion on the issue.

5. If Bengal decided in favor of partition, a referendum was to be held in the Sylhet District of Assam to decide whether it would continue as a part of Assam, or be merged with the new province of East Bengal.

Some discussion areas:

(a) ………….
(b) …… 230;….