By 1946 Britain had decided to leave India. The question was: one country or two? The Cabinet Mission (1946) tried to keep India united, and failed. The Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) accepted partition. The Indian Independence Act made it law, and freedom came on 15 August 1947. The Radcliffe Line cut Punjab and Bengal in two.
The road to 1946
From the Pakistan demand to the end of the war.
In the 1940s the Muslim League, led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah, began to demand a separate Muslim homeland. The Congress wanted one free India. Britain, busy with the Second World War, made offers that both sides rejected. When the war ended in 1945, a new Labour government under Clement Attlee decided to hand over power.
- 1933The name 'Pakistan'
Coined by Choudhary Rahmat Ali, a student at Cambridge, in a pamphlet.
- March 1940Lahore Resolution
The Muslim League demands separate states for Muslim-majority areas. It is also called the Pakistan Resolution.
- March 1942Cripps Mission
Offers dominion status after the war. Congress rejects it.
- August 1942Quit India Movement
Launched after the failure of the Cripps offer.
- June–July 1945Wavell Plan, Simla Conference
Viceroy Wavell proposes a new Executive Council. Talks fail over who would name the Muslim members.
- 1945–46Elections
Congress wins most general seats; the League wins most Muslim seats.
The Cripps offer promised freedom only after the war. Gandhi is said to have called it a post-dated cheque. Its failure led straight to the Quit India Movement of August 1942.
The Cabinet Mission, 1946
The last plan to keep India one country.
In March 1946 Attlee sent three British cabinet ministers to India. They were Lord Pethick-Lawrence (Secretary of State for India, the leader), Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander. The Mission rejected a separate Pakistan. Its plan of 16 May 1946 offered a united India with a weak centre.
- Weak centreUnion of India (top)Only defence, foreign affairs and communications.
- Groups of provinces (middle)A: Hindu-majority provinces. B: Punjab, NWFP, Sind (north-west). C: Bengal and Assam (north-east).
- Provinces (bottom)All other subjects stay with the provinces.
- Constituent AssemblyElected by the provincial assemblies, not directly by the people.
- Interim GovernmentTo run India while the constitution was being made.
The Cabinet Mission failed in its main aim. But the Constituent Assembly it created went on to write the Constitution of India. So a failed plan gave India the body that made the republic.
From Direct Action to the Mountbatten Plan
August 1946 to June 1947: the slide to partition.
- 16 Aug 1946Direct Action Day
Called by the Muslim League to press for Pakistan. Large-scale riots break out in Calcutta, then spread to Noakhali, Bihar and later Punjab.
- 2 Sept 1946Interim Government
Formed under Jawaharlal Nehru. The League joins in October 1946, but the two sides clash at every step.
- 20 Feb 1947Attlee's deadline
Britain will leave India not later than June 1948.
- 2 Mar 1947Punjab ministry falls
Premier Khizar Hayat Khan Tiwana (Unionist) resigns. Governor's rule follows; violence grows.
- 24 Mar 1947Mountbatten takes over
He replaces Wavell as the last Viceroy.
- 3 June 1947Mountbatten Plan
Partition accepted; date brought forward to 15 August 1947.
It accepted partition, which the Cabinet Mission had refused. The members of the Punjab and Bengal assemblies would vote, sitting in two parts, on dividing their province. NWFP and Sylhet (Assam) would decide by referendum. A Boundary Commission would draw the lines. Princely states could join India or Pakistan. Congress and the League both accepted it.
The Indian Independence Act, 1947
The law that created two dominions.
The British Parliament turned the Mountbatten Plan into law. The Indian Independence Act got royal assent on 18 July 1947. Under it, India and Pakistan became two independent dominions on 15 August 1947. Pakistan marks its independence on 14 August, the day power was handed over in Karachi.
- Two dominions, India and Pakistan, from 15 August 1947.
- Each Constituent Assembly got full power to make its own constitution and laws.
- British paramountcy over the princely states ended. They could join either dominion.
- The British king dropped the title Emperor of India. The post of Secretary of State for India ended.
- Until new constitutions came, each dominion ran under the Government of India Act 1935, with a Governor-General as head.
- 1Lord Mountbatten1947–48 · Last Viceroy, then first Governor-General of free Indiasucceeded by
- 2C. Rajagopalachari1948–50 · First and last Indian Governor-General
The Radcliffe Line and Punjab
One line, two Punjabs, millions on the move.
A line had to be drawn through Punjab and Bengal. A British lawyer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe, chaired both Boundary Commissions. He had never been to India before and had about five weeks. His award was ready by 12 August, but it was made public only on 17 August 1947, two days after freedom.
About 10 to 15 million people crossed the new borders in 1947. Muslims moved west; Hindus and Sikhs moved east. Hundreds of thousands lost their lives in riots, and Punjab suffered the most. East Punjab lost Lahore, its capital, and had to build a new one, Chandigarh.
- Leader of the Cabinet Mission
- Lord Pethick-Lawrence
- Other two members
- Stafford Cripps, A. V. Alexander
- Direct Action Day
- 16 August 1946, Muslim League
- Head of Interim Government
- Jawaharlal Nehru, 2 Sept 1946
- Permanent President, Constituent Assembly
- Rajendra Prasad
- Last Viceroy
- Lord Mountbatten
- Last Premier of united Punjab
- Khizar Hayat Khan Tiwana
- Drew the India–Pakistan border
- Sir Cyril Radcliffe
Everything on one look
The Mission, the plan, the Act and the line.
- Cabinet Mission: Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps, Alexander
- Plan of 16 May 1946: united India, weak centre
- Groups A, B, C; grouping quarrel
- Direct Action Day: 16 Aug 1946
- Interim Government under Nehru: 2 Sept 1946
- Constituent Assembly first met: 9 Dec 1946
- Attlee: leave by June 1948 (20 Feb 1947)
- Mountbatten Plan: 3 June 1947
- Indian Independence Act: 18 July 1947
- Freedom: 15 August 1947 (a Friday)
- Radcliffe Line made public: 17 Aug 1947
- Punjab: 29 districts, 13 to India
- The Cabinet Mission rejected partition; the Mountbatten Plan accepted it.
- Cabinet Mission leader: Pethick-Lawrence, not Cripps. Cripps also led the 1942 mission.
- Quit India followed the Cripps offer, not the Cabinet Mission.
- The name Pakistan: Rahmat Ali (1933), not Jinnah or Iqbal.
- The Simla Conference (1945) was under Wavell, not Mountbatten.
- Attlee's first deadline was June 1948; it was brought forward to 15 August 1947.
- The Act became law on 18 July 1947; freedom came on 15 August.
- The Radcliffe Line was made public on 17 August, after independence.
- NWFP had a Congress government in 1947, yet voted for Pakistan in a referendum.
- Radcliffe Line = India–Pakistan. McMahon = India–China. Durand = Pakistan–Afghanistan.
- Name 'Pakistan': Rahmat Ali, 1933
- Lahore (Pakistan) Resolution: March 1940
- Cripps Mission: March 1942
- Simla Conference: 1945, Wavell
- Cabinet Mission arrived: March 1946
- Members: Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps, Alexander
- Plan announced: 16 May 1946
- Union subjects: defence, foreign affairs, communications
- Direct Action Day: 16 August 1946
- Interim Government: 2 September 1946, Nehru
- Constituent Assembly: 9 December 1946
- Permanent President: Rajendra Prasad
- Attlee's statement: 20 February 1947
- Last Premier of united Punjab: Khizar Hayat Khan
- Mountbatten Plan: 3 June 1947
- Indian Independence Act: 18 July 1947
- First Indian Governor-General: C. Rajagopalachari
- Radcliffe Line public: 17 August 1947
- Partition Museum: Town Hall, Amritsar
Why did the Cabinet Mission Plan fail?
Show answer
It broke down over grouping. The League read the grouping of provinces as compulsory, the Congress as optional. After Nehru said in July 1946 that the Assembly would not be bound, the League withdrew its acceptance and called Direct Action Day. The riots that followed made a united India look impossible.