Question

Write information about Mountbatten Plan.

Answer 1

1. With the Second World War, Britain lost a large amount of economic, military and political strength.
2. With a lowering in support even from its own citizens, the leaders of the United Kingdom opened up discussions with their Indian counterparts regarding the freedom of India.
3. The Wavell Plan failed to succeed because of the differences in opinion of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League.
4. After the declaration of ‘Direct Action Day’, in 1946 the country had erupted in riots and massacres, prompting the then Viceroy, Lord Wavell, to form an Interim Government with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the head.
5. The interim government was unsuccessful because of the obstruction policy adopted by the Muslim League. It was in this setting that the British Prime Minister Atlee had announced that England would leave its dominion on India before June 1948.
6. Lord Mountbatten was declared as the Viceroy of India with the sole mission that he would oversee the separation of India from British dominion. After much discussion with both the leaders of the Indian National Congress and the Muslim League, Mountbatten came up with the plan to create the two separate independent nations of India and Pakistan based on religious beliefs and majority.
7. The Indian National Congress, which was founded on the basis of secularism, was initially opposed to the idea of gaining freedom with a partition on the basis of religion.
8. But at the same time, it was also against compelling the people of any territorial unit to remain in the Indian Union against their declared and established will. This feeling was intensified with the continued riots that India witnessed prior to her independence.

Thus, giving into the adamant demands by the Muslim League for a separate Muslim nation, the Indian National Congress was forced to approve the partition.