From the 1945-46 Elections to Partition

This handout covers the last two years of British rule: the general elections of 1945-46, the Cabinet Mission Plan, Direct Action Day, the interim government, the 3 June Plan, the Radcliffe Award and the Indian Independence Act. It completes Section 2 of the syllabus, the emergence of Pakistan 1906-47.

Key dates

Date	Event
December 1945	Elections to the Central Legislative Assembly
Early 1946	Provincial elections
March 1946	The Cabinet Mission arrives in India
16 May 1946	The Cabinet Mission Plan is announced
July 1946	Nehru's statement on the plan; the Muslim League withdraws its acceptance
16 August 1946	Direct Action Day; the killings in Calcutta
September-October 1946	The interim government takes office under Nehru; the League joins in October
20 February 1947	Attlee announces that Britain will leave India by June 1948
March 1947	Lord Mountbatten replaces Lord Wavell as Viceroy
3 June 1947	The partition plan is announced
July 1947	The Indian Independence Act is passed by the British Parliament
14-17 August 1947	Pakistan becomes independent on 14 August; the Radcliffe Award is published on 17 August

The general elections of 1945-46

After the Simla Conference failed, the new Labour government in Britain called elections to find out who represented the people of India. Congress campaigned for a united, independent India. The Muslim League under Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah campaigned on one issue: Pakistan.

Results. In the Central Legislative Assembly the League won all 30 seats reserved for Muslims. In the provinces it won the great majority of the Muslim seats, close to nine in every ten. Congress won most of the general seats and formed ministries in eight provinces. The League formed ministries in Bengal and Sindh. In Punjab it was the largest party but was kept out of office by a coalition of Unionists, Congress and Sikhs. The North West Frontier Province kept a Congress ministry.

Why the League did so much better than in 1937

1. Congress rule of 1937-39. Muslims remembered measures such as Bande Matram and the Wardha education scheme and feared permanent Hindu-majority rule.
2. A clear aim. Since the Lahore Resolution of 1940 the League had a simple message that voters understood.
3. Organisation and leadership. During the war the League built branches in the Muslim-majority provinces. Students, landowners and many religious leaders worked for it, and Jinnah's standing had risen after the 1944 talks and Simla.

The results proved the League's claim to speak for the Muslims of India. The British and Congress could no longer ignore the demand for Pakistan.

The Cabinet Mission Plan 1946

In March 1946 three British ministers came to India: Lord Pethick-Lawrence, Sir Stafford Cripps and A. V. Alexander. Their task was to agree a constitution with the Indian leaders. When the parties could not agree, the Mission published its own plan on 16 May.

• The demand for a separate Pakistan was rejected. There would be one Union of India dealing only with foreign affairs, defence and communications.
• All other powers would belong to the provinces.
• The provinces would be placed in three sections: the Hindu-majority provinces; Punjab, the North West Frontier Province and Sindh; and Bengal and Assam. Each section could draw up a constitution for its group.
• A constituent assembly would be elected by the provincial assemblies, and an interim government of Indian leaders would be formed.

The League accepted the plan in June. Although it did not give Pakistan, the grouping of the Muslim-majority provinces gave them self-rule and kept open the chance of separation later. Congress accepted with reservations. In July Nehru, the new Congress President, said that Congress would not be bound by the details once the constituent assembly met. The League concluded that the groupings could be undone by the Congress majority, and it withdrew its acceptance.

Direct Action Day and the interim government

The League now decided to show its strength outside the council chamber. It named 16 August 1946 as Direct Action Day, a day of meetings and strikes in support of Pakistan. In most places it passed peacefully. In Calcutta it led to several days of rioting between Muslims and Hindus in which thousands of people were killed. Violence then spread to other parts of Bengal, to Bihar and later to Punjab. The killings convinced many, including British officials, that the two communities could not be held in one state without civil war.

Wavell formed an interim government under Nehru in September 1946. The League joined in October so that Muslim interests would not go unrepresented. Liaquat Ali Khan became Finance Member, and his budget of early 1947 placed heavy taxes on wealthy businessmen, many of whom supported Congress. The two parties worked against each other and the League refused to attend the constituent assembly. The experience persuaded Congress leaders that a divided India might be better than a central government that could not function.

The 3 June Plan 1947

In February 1947 the Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, announced that Britain would leave by June 1948. Lord Mountbatten was sent as the last Viceroy. He soon decided that partition was the only solution and that it must be done quickly. His plan, announced on 3 June 1947, said:

• British India would be divided into two states, India and Pakistan, each with dominion status.
• The assemblies of Punjab and Bengal would vote, in separate Muslim-majority and non-Muslim-majority halves, on whether their provinces should be divided.
• The Sindh assembly would vote on which state to join. Referendums would be held in the North West Frontier Province and in the Sylhet district of Assam. Balochistan would decide through its tribal leaders and the Quetta municipality.
• A boundary commission would draw the borders in Punjab and Bengal.
• The princely states would be free to join either country.

Both parties accepted the plan. The date for independence was brought forward to August 1947. Punjab and Bengal were divided, and Sindh, Balochistan, the North West Frontier Province and Sylhet chose Pakistan.

The Indian Independence Act and the Radcliffe Award

The Indian Independence Act, passed in July 1947, set up two independent dominions from 15 August 1947. Each would have a Governor-General and a constituent assembly with full power to make laws. The Government of India Act 1935 would serve as a temporary constitution. British authority over the princely states ended. Pakistan came into being on 14 August 1947 with Jinnah as Governor-General and Liaquat Ali Khan as Prime Minister.

The borders were drawn by commissions chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe, a British lawyer who had not worked in India before. Each commission had two members nominated by the League and two by Congress, so Radcliffe made the final decisions. He had only a few weeks. His award was published on 17 August, after independence. Pakistan was disappointed on several points:

• Most of Gurdaspur district, which had a Muslim majority, was given to India. This gave India a land route to Kashmir.
• Ferozepur, with its canal headworks controlling water that flowed into Pakistan, went to India.
• Calcutta, the chief port and industrial city of Bengal, went to India.

How to judge it: which event did most to bring about partition?

The elections gave the League the mandate without which nothing else could have followed. The failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan removed the last scheme for a united India; many historians place much of the blame on Nehru's statement. Direct Action Day and the violence that followed showed the cost of delay. The interim government proved that the parties could not share power. British haste under Attlee and Mountbatten fixed the timing.

Judgement. The elections were the foundation, because they turned a claim into a proven fact. However, as late as June 1946 the League was willing to accept less than full independence. It was the collapse of the Cabinet Mission Plan that made partition the only remaining answer, so that event can be argued to be the most important single turning point.

Key terms and people

• Cabinet Mission: three British ministers sent in 1946 to agree a constitution for India.
• Grouping: the plan to place provinces in three sections with their own constitutions.
• Constituent assembly: a body elected to write a constitution.
• Direct Action: protest outside the normal constitutional methods.
• Dominion: a self-governing state within the British Commonwealth.
• Lord Mountbatten: the last Viceroy, March to August 1947.
• Sir Cyril Radcliffe: chairman of the boundary commissions.

Exam practice

1. Describe the 3 June Plan of 1947. [4]
2. Why did the Muslim League win so many Muslim seats in the elections of 1945-46? [7]
3. "The failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan was the most important reason for the partition of India in 1947." How far do you agree? Explain your answer. [14]

Outline answers

1. Announced by Mountbatten. Two dominions, India and Pakistan. The Punjab and Bengal assemblies to vote on dividing their provinces. Referendums in the North West Frontier Province and Sylhet, and a vote in the Sindh assembly. A boundary commission to fix the borders; princely states to choose which country to join.

2. Three explained reasons: (i) the memory of Congress rule in 1937-39 made Muslims fear for their religion and culture under a Hindu majority; (ii) the Lahore Resolution gave the League a single clear aim, Pakistan, which united Muslim voters; (iii) the League had built a strong organisation during the war while Congress leaders were in prison, and Jinnah's prestige was high after Simla.

3. Agree: the plan was the last scheme for a united India; the League had accepted it; Nehru's statement destroyed trust and led to Direct Action. Other reasons: the election results; the violence of 1946-47; the failure of the interim government; Attlee's deadline and Mountbatten's haste; the long-term effect of the Two Nation Theory and Congress rule. Judgement: explain which factor you think mattered most and why, for example that the plan's failure was the turning point but depended on the League's election victory.