THE FREEDOM MOVEMENT AND THE PARTITION OF INDIABritish government that Wavell had petitioned in vain. The declaration
stated that the British were to quit India by June 1948; Mountbatten
would be the last viceroy. Only 41 years old when he reached India,
Mountbatten was dynamic and sociable and immediately established good
relations with Indian leaders. His only drawback was that he did not like
paperwork and rarely studied the detailed drafts of constitutional
proposals which were churned out by his own staff and by Indian
politicians with increasing frequency in the last few months before
independence and partition.
The plan which Mountbatten finally sent home for approval by the
cabinet was appropriately called ‘Plan Balkan’ in official circles. It was
more or less a revised version of the cabinet mission scheme, but it was no
longer based on the hope of preserving the unity of India. Instead, it aimed
to arrive at a reasonable partition. Even Nehru was now convinced that
this was the only way out of the impasse, but the version of the ‘Plan
Balkan’ which was shown to him before it was sent to London at least
preserved the unity of the Hindu majority provinces (‘Group B’) and
enabled provinces which did not want to stay in ‘Group A’ or ‘Group B’ to
opt out of them.
The cabinet made some important changes in this plan, probably due to
Attlee’s preference for a clear statement of the principle of provincial self-
determination. Independence would be granted to the provinces and to the
princely states and they could then get together in whatever way they
wanted. In other words, instead of providing for the exceptional possibility
of ‘opting out’ the plan now put all units on an equal footing and gave
them the chance of ‘opting in’ according to their free choice. Although
certainly a more logical proposition, in practical terms it could have
disastrous consequences. ‘Plan Balkan’ could now, indeed, lead to a
complete Balkanisation of India.
Mountbatten, who did not pay attention to such details, did not see
much of a difference between the plan sent to London and the plan as
revised by the cabinet; he was completely surprised when Nehru rejected it
outright. Faced with the potential consequences of this plan, Nehru now
also pressed for what Jinnah had expected all along: a Pakistan award
made by the British. But this Pakistan was to be the ‘moth-eaten’ one
composed of the Muslim majority districts only and not consisting of an
undivided Panjab and an undivided Bengal. Taking note of Nehru’s
reaction Mountbatten swung around to his point of view and worked for
this kind of award. Jinnah could not object to it either, even though it
meant a substantial reduction of the Pakistan he had hoped for. His hold
on the Muslim majority provinces was still rather precarious. He had
consolidated his position as a national leader of the Muslims—but if the
provincial level were now to re-emerge as the crucial arena of decision-
making, his control over the course of events might be diminished.