23. MOUNTBATTEN PLAN & PARTITION (1947)

23. MOUNTBATTEN PLAN & PARTITION (1947)

• Lord Mountbatten became the last Viceroy of British India (arrived March 1947), tasked with expediting the transfer of power (originally targeted for June 1948, advanced due to worsening communal violence and administrative breakdown).
• Mountbatten Plan (3 June 1947): Proposed Partition of India into two independent dominions — India and Pakistan — along communal lines, with provinces (Punjab and Bengal) to be further partitioned based on the will of their legislatures/referenda in some areas (e.g., NWFP referendum, Sylhet referendum in Assam).
• Indian Independence Act, 1947 passed by the British Parliament, giving legal effect to the plan; received royal assent 18 July 1947.
• Radcliffe Line — the boundary demarcating India and Pakistan, drawn by British lawyer Sir Cyril Radcliffe (who had no prior experience of India), announced just after independence — caused one of the largest and most violent mass migrations in human history, with estimates of 10–20 million people displaced and several hundred thousand to over a million deaths in the associated communal violence.
• Pakistan came into being on 14 August 1947 (Jinnah became its first Governor-General).
• India became independent on 15 August 1947 — Jawaharlal Nehru became independent India's first Prime Minister, delivering the historic "Tryst with Destiny" speech at midnight (14–15 August 1947) in the Constituent Assembly; Lord Mountbatten became free India's first Governor-General; C. Rajagopalachari later became India's first and only Indian Governor-General (1948–50), before India became a republic on 26 January 1950.
• Gandhi, deeply anguished by Partition and the accompanying violence, was notably absent from the official independence celebrations in Delhi — he was in Calcutta/Noakhali working to stem communal violence, observing the day with fasting and prayer rather than celebration.
• Gandhi was assassinated on 30 January 1948 in Delhi (Birla House) by Nathuram Godse, a Hindu nationalist who blamed Gandhi for being too conciliatory towards Muslims/Pakistan.

Key Facts / Quick Revision Points — Mountbatten Plan & Independence

• Mountbatten Plan announced: 3 June 1947.
• Indian Independence Act 1947 — royal assent 18 July 1947.
• Pakistan: 14 August 1947 (Jinnah, Governor-General). India: 15 August 1947.
• Nehru — first PM of India; Mountbatten — first Governor-General of independent India.
• Radcliffe Line — border drawn by Sir Cyril Radcliffe.
• Gandhi assassinated: 30 January 1948, by Nathuram Godse.