Lord Mountbatten, who had come to India as Viceroy in March 1947, worked out a compromise after long discussions with the leaders of the Congress and the Muslim League- the country was free but not united. India was to be partitioned and a new state of Pakistan was to be created along with a free India. He announce his compromise plan on 3rd June 1947. By this plan , Punjab, Bengal, Sind, Baluchistan, NWFP, and Sylhet district of Assam were to go to Pakistan. But in the case of Baluchistan and Sylhet there should be a referendum to decide whether to join Pakistan or not. Similarly, the Hindu majority districts of Bengal and Punjab were given the right to decide whether to remain or not in the Indian Union. The Native states were given the option to accede to either Pakistan or Indian Union. The nationalist leaders agreed to the partition of India in order to avoid the large scale blood bath and communal riots threatened. But they did not accept the two-nation theory. They did not agree to hand over one-third of the country to the Muslim League. They agreed to the separation of only those areas where the influence of the Muslim League was predominant. Thus, Punjab, Bengal, and Assam were to be partitioned.
In July 1947, the British Parliament passed the historic Indian Independence Act to legalize the Mountbatten Plan. The Act , thus provided for the establishment of two independent states – India and Pakistan with effect from 15 August 1947. The boundary lines between the two nations were drawn by Radcliff, a British lawyer, who knew nothing about Indian conditions or geography. The country was to be partitioned bur not on the basis of Hinduism and Islam. India became independent on 15 August 1947. On the night of 14 August Jawaharlal Nehru, said in his ‘midnight speech’, “ At the stroke of midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. …”.
Gabndhi the chief architect of the National Movement was spending the night at Noakhali in Calcutta, which was worst affected by communal riots, fasting and pacifying the people. He was totally dejected to see the communal carnage which killed thousands of people in both countries. It was in this context Gandhi said, “ I invoke the aid of Almighty to take me away from his value of tears rather than make me helpless witness of the butchery by man become savage, whether he dares to call himself a Muslim or Hindu or what not”.
V P Menon played an extraordinarily important role during this period but is now largely forgotten. For more information on him, please read 'V P Menon - Forgotten Architect of Modern India' which is available on www.forgotten-raj.org.
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