The last attempt to keep India whole
By 1946 the British had decided to leave. The only question left was whether they would leave behind one country or two — and the answer took just over a year to arrive.
This page covers the final passage to independence. The lead topic is the Cabinet Mission of 1946 — the last serious plan to keep India united — set out in full. Then come the events that followed directly from its failure: the Mountbatten Plan, the Indian Independence Act of 1947, and the Radcliffe Line that drew the border.
The Cabinet Mission, 1946
In March 1946, Prime Minister Clement Attlee sent three British cabinet ministers to India to work out a peaceful transfer of power and, if possible, a constitution acceptable to both Congress and the Muslim League.
- The three members were Pethick-Lawrence (Secretary of State for India, and the chairman), Stafford Cripps and A.V. Alexander
- The Mission rejected the demand for a separate Pakistan as unworkable, and instead proposed a united India with a weak centre
- It proposed a three-tier structure: a Union at the top handling only defence, foreign affairs and communications; the provinces at the bottom; and in between, groups of provinces that could share subjects
- Provinces were sorted into three groups — Group A (Hindu-majority provinces), Group B (Punjab, NWFP, Sind), and Group C (Bengal and Assam)
- A Constituent Assembly would be elected by the provincial assemblies to frame the constitution
- An interim government would run the country in the meantime
The whole plan turned on one ambiguity: was the grouping of provinces compulsory or optional? The Muslim League read grouping as compulsory — it would give them control of the Muslim-majority groups B and C, a Pakistan in embryo. The Congress read it as optional — a province could stay out of its group. There was no arbiter to settle which reading was correct, and on that ambiguity the plan collapsed.
The Muslim League had initially accepted the plan, then withdrew its acceptance after Nehru suggested in July that grouping would not be binding. The League called for Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946 to press for Pakistan. It triggered the Great Calcutta Killings — days of communal slaughter that left thousands dead and spread to Noakhali, Bihar and Punjab.
An interim government was formed under Jawaharlal Nehru. The Muslim League joined it in October but worked to obstruct rather than cooperate, and Congress and League ministers clashed on almost every decision. Government had become unworkable.
One lasting thing survived the wreck of the Cabinet Mission: the Constituent Assembly it provided for. Elected in 1946, it first met on 9 December 1946, with Sachchidananda Sinha as temporary chairman and then Rajendra Prasad as permanent President. The Muslim League boycotted it. This Assembly went on to frame the Constitution of India — so the Cabinet Mission, though it failed in its main aim, gave birth to the body that wrote the republic.
Related — the Mountbatten Plan, 3 June 1947
In February 1947 Attlee announced that Britain would leave India by June 1948, and sent Lord Mountbatten as the last Viceroy. Mountbatten arrived in March 1947, judged the Cabinet Mission dead and communal violence uncontrollable, and produced his own plan.
- Announced on 3 June 1947, it is also called the 3 June Plan
- It accepted the principle of partition — the thing the Cabinet Mission had refused
- Punjab and Bengal would each vote on whether to be partitioned; the NWFP and Sylhet would decide by referendum
- The princely states were freed by the lapse of British paramountcy to join India or Pakistan
- Crucially, it advanced the date of freedom from June 1948 to 15 August 1947 — barely ten weeks away
- The plan was accepted by both the Congress and the Muslim League; the Congress had by now accepted partition as unavoidable
Related — the Indian Independence Act, 1947
The Mountbatten Plan was given legal force by the Indian Independence Act, passed by the British Parliament and given royal assent on 18 July 1947.
- It partitioned British India into two independent dominions — India and Pakistan — from 15 August 1947
- It gave each dominion a Constituent Assembly with full power to frame its own constitution
- It ended British paramountcy over the princely states, leaving them to accede to either dominion
- It dropped the title Emperor of India from the British Crown
- Until new constitutions were framed, each dominion would be governed under the Government of India Act 1935, with a Governor-General as constitutional head
- Pakistan became independent on 14 August and India on 15 August 1947
Related — the Radcliffe Line
Someone had to draw the actual border through Punjab and Bengal. The task fell to a British lawyer who had never been to India.
- Sir Cyril Radcliffe chaired the Boundary Commission that divided Punjab and Bengal between India and Pakistan
- He was given about five weeks and had never visited India before
- The Radcliffe Line was published on 17 August 1947 — two days after independence — deliberately held back to avoid pre-emptive violence, though the delay arguably worsened it
- The partition set off one of the largest and bloodiest migrations in history: around ten to fifteen million people displaced, and hundreds of thousands to over a million killed in the communal violence, worst of all in Punjab
Cabinet Mission (1946) tried to keep India united and failed. Direct Action Day (Aug 1946) made partition look inevitable. Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947) accepted partition and advanced the date. Indian Independence Act (18 July 1947) gave it legal force. Radcliffe Line (17 Aug 1947) drew the border. The Cabinet Mission is the one that rejected partition; every step after it accepted it.
Why did the Cabinet Mission Plan fail?
It failed over the ambiguity of grouping. The Muslim League read the grouping of provinces as compulsory, which would hand it control of the Muslim-majority groups, while the Congress read it as optional, and there was no arbiter to decide. When Nehru suggested grouping would not be binding, the League withdrew its acceptance and called Direct Action Day, and the resulting communal violence made a united India impossible.
Mission 1946, Direct Action Aug 1946, Mountbatten 3 June 1947, Act 18 July 1947, Radcliffe 17 Aug 1947. And the three members: Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps, Alexander.
Everything on one look
The Mission, the plan, the act and the line.
- The Cabinet Mission came to India in 1946
- Its members were Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps and Alexander
- It rejected the demand for a separate Pakistan
- It proposed a three-tier structure with a weak centre
- The plan collapsed over the grouping ambiguity
- The Muslim League called Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946
- The Mountbatten Plan was announced on 3 June 1947
- It accepted the principle of partition
- It advanced independence to 15 August 1947
- The Indian Independence Act received assent on 18 July 1947
- Cyril Radcliffe drew the boundary line
- The Radcliffe Line was published on 17 August 1947
- The Cabinet Mission rejected Pakistan — it aimed to keep India united
- The members were Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps and Alexander
- The plan failed over whether grouping was compulsory or optional
- Direct Action Day was on 16 August 1946, called by the Muslim League
- The Mountbatten Plan is also called the 3 June Plan
- The Mountbatten Plan accepted partition, unlike the Cabinet Mission
- Independence was advanced from June 1948 to 15 August 1947
- The Indian Independence Act received assent on 18 July 1947
- Pakistan became independent on 14 August, India on 15 August 1947
- The Radcliffe Line was published on 17 August 1947, after independence
- The Cabinet Mission came to India in March 1946
- The Mission was sent by Prime Minister Clement Attlee
- Its three members were Pethick-Lawrence, Cripps and Alexander
- Pethick-Lawrence chaired the Cabinet Mission
- The Mission rejected the demand for a separate Pakistan
- It proposed a united India with a weak centre
- It proposed a three-tier structure of Union, groups and provinces
- The Union would handle defence, foreign affairs and communications
- Provinces were sorted into Groups A, B and C
- A Constituent Assembly was to be elected by the provincial assemblies
- The plan collapsed over whether grouping was compulsory or optional
- The Muslim League withdrew its acceptance after Nehru's remarks on grouping
- The Muslim League called Direct Action Day on 16 August 1946
- Direct Action Day triggered the Great Calcutta Killings
- An interim government under Nehru was formed on 2 September 1946
- The Constituent Assembly first met on 9 December 1946
- Rajendra Prasad became permanent President of the Constituent Assembly
- Attlee announced in February 1947 that Britain would leave by June 1948
- Lord Mountbatten was the last Viceroy of India
- The Mountbatten Plan was announced on 3 June 1947
- The Mountbatten Plan is also called the 3 June Plan
- The plan accepted the principle of partition
- Punjab and Bengal were to vote on partition
- Independence was advanced to 15 August 1947
- The Indian Independence Act received royal assent on 18 July 1947
- The Act partitioned India into two dominions, India and Pakistan
- The Act ended British paramountcy over the princely states
- The Act dropped the title Emperor of India
- Each dominion was governed under the Government of India Act 1935 in the interim
- Pakistan became independent on 14 August and India on 15 August 1947
- Sir Cyril Radcliffe drew the boundary line between India and Pakistan
- The Radcliffe Line divided Punjab and Bengal
- The Radcliffe Line was published on 17 August 1947
- Partition displaced ten to fifteen million people