Summary

● Last Two Years of British Rule

* Two basic strands—

1. Tortuous negotiations resulting in freedom and partition, accompanied by communal violence

2. Sporadic, localised mass action

* July 1945 Labour government comes to power in Britain

* August 1945 Elections to central and provincial assemblies announced

* September 1945 Announcement of a Constituent Assembly after War

* A change in Government’s attitude due to

Change in global power equations; UK no longer a power Labour government sympathetic to India

Tired British soldiers and shattered British economy Anti-imperialist wave throughout Asia

Officials feared another Congress revolt

* Two Main Election Planks for Congress

1. Repression of 1942

2. Mass pressure against trial of INA POWs

* INA Agitation—Main Features

Had unprecedented high pitch and intensity Had wide geographical and social spread

Penetrated traditional bulwarks of Raj—government employees and loyalists

With each day, became a purely India versus Britain issue

* Three Upsurges

1. November 21, 1945 in Calcutta over INA trials

2. February 11, 1946 in Calcutta over seven-year sentence to an INA officer

3. February 18, 1946 in Bombay, strike by Royal Indian Navy Ratings

Congress did not support these upsurges because of their timing and tactics

* Election Results

Congress won 57 out of 102 seats in Central Assembly;

— got majority in Madras, Bombay, UP, Bihar, Orissa and Central Provinces and coalition partner with Unionists and Akalis in Punjab

Muslim League won 30 reserved seats in Central Assembly; got majority in Bengal, Sindh

* Why British Withdrawal Seemed Imminent by 1946

1. Success of nationalist forces in struggle for hegemony

2. Demoralisation among bureaucracy and the loyalist sections

3. Limitations of British strategy of conciliation and repression

4. Demands of leniency for INA by armymen and RIN ratings’ revolt

5. An entirely official rule was impossible

* Main Aim of Government Policy Now

A graceful withdrawal after settlement on modalities of transfer of power, and post-imperial Indo-British relations

● Cabinet Mission

* Proposals

Rejection of Pakistan

Grouping of existing assemblies into three sections A, B, C Three-tier executive and legislature at province, princely states and union level

Provincial assemblies to elect a constituent assembly Common centre for defence, communications, external affairs

Provinces to have autonomy and residual powers Princely states free to have an arrangement with the successor government or the British Government

In future, a province free to come out of the section or the union

Meanwhile, an interim government to be formed from constituent assembly.

* Interpretation Congress claimed that the grouping was optional while the League thought that the grouping was compulsory. Mission decided the matter in the League’s favour

* Acceptance League, followed by Congress, accepted Cabinet Mission proposals in June 1946

* Further Developments: July 1946 League withdrew from the Plan after Nehru’s press statement, and gave a call for “direct action” from August 16, 1946

September 1946 An Interim Government headed by Nehru sworn in

October 1946 League joins Interim Government and follows an obstructionist approach

February 1947 Congress members demand removal of League members; League demands dissolution of Constituent Assembly

● Birth and Spread of Communalism in India

Chapter 25

Independence with Partition

Attlee’s Statement of February 20, 1947

Clement Attlee, the British prime minister, sensing the trouble all around, made an announcement on February 20, 1947. The British House of Commons declared the British intention of leaving the Indian subcontinent.