THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT AND THE PARTITION OF INDIAhappened. Again Jinnah emerged with a greatly enhanced political
stature from this round of negotiations. He had shown that nothing
could be done against his will and the British had unwittingly helped him
to demonstrate this point.
This was the state of affairs when a momentous change took place in
British politics. Churchill had dissolved the war cabinet at the earliest
opportunity, confident of winning the elections and heading a Conservative
government. Instead, a Labour government came to power with Clement
Attlee as the new prime minister. He could have taken bold steps towards
India’s independence. A major obstacle—the settlement of India’s national
debt to Great Britain—had been removed by the war as India had emerged
from it as a creditor to the colonial rulers. Substantial sterling balances had
accumulated in the Bank of England which India had earned by producing
essential goods for the British.
But the Labour government missed the chance of taking a bold
initiative. The fact that this government felt that the Cripps offer was still
open actually prevented it from giving much thought to the new
developments in India at that time. As a true democrat Attlee believed that
elections should be held as soon as possible. The newly elected provincial
assemblies could then serve as electoral colleges for the election of a
constituent assembly. Elections are certainly the lifeblood of a democratic
system, but they can prove to be disruptive in societies with sectarian
parties and separate electorates—and this even more so when the electorate
is not given any clear idea of the issues at stake. Jinnah had deliberately
kept his Pakistan demand rather vague and tall claims were made in the
election campaign. Wavell was upset because he was not permitted even to
contradict such claims. Indeed, when the viceroy wrote to Secretary of
State Lord Pethick-Lawrence that he might suggest an MP asking a
question from the floor of the House, which could then be authoritatively
answered on behalf of the government, Pethick-Lawrence declined on the
grounds that such a course might elicit more embarrassing questions for
which the government had no proper answer. This was a striking
indication of the Labour government’s helplessness.
Left to his own devices Wavell drafted a ‘Breakdown Plan’ which he
wanted to put into effect if the elections reflected the pattern of the Simla
Conference in granting Jinnah the power to veto as Jinnah could then
simply wait for the viceroy’s next move in order to increase his political
leverage. Should there be another deadlock, Wavell wanted to threaten
Jinnah that the British would give him a Pakistan restricted to the Muslim
majority districts of the Panjab and Bengal only. Wavell also proposed that
he would make such a move towards a showdown immediately after the
election results for the Panjab were known, without waiting for the results
of the other provinces. Wavell thought that everything depended on the
fate of the Unionist Party in this respect.