How the Indian Subcontinent Was Divided By a British Official Who Had Never Been to the Region Before. What Was “The Mountbatten Plan”?

Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, famously known as Lord Mountbatten, was a British statesman and naval officer who was called upon by British raj to divide the Indian subcontinent which they were going to leave after succumbing to the Indian resistance forces. He served as the last viceroy of India and also the first Governor General of India. But very few know that Mountbatten never set foot in the subcontinent before March 22, 1947, when he first arrived. He demarcated the boundaries of the region which he, as many historical accounts suggest, knew nothing about.

Lets have a relook at his legacy.

Who was Lord Mountbatten?

Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, also known as Lord Mountbatten, was born in Windsor, United Kingdom, on 25 June, 1900 to Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse. His father, Prince Louis of Battenberg, who had German roots, was married into the British royal family, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in the 1800s.

The British branch of the Battenberg family changed their name to Mountbatten to avoid any association with Germany during the First World War. Lord Mountbatten was also a distant relative of Queen Victoria and the uncle of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh—husband of the former Queen of the United Kingdom, Elizabeth II.

Lord Mountbatten received much of his early education at home before enrolling at the Royal Naval College in Osborne in 1914 and joining the Royal Navy in 1916. Alongside his naval career, he pursued his interest in technological advancements and gadgetry, from Portsmouth Signals School in 1924. In 1922, he married Edwina Ashley, and had two daughters, Patricia Knatchbull and Lady Pamela Hicks.

During the interwar period and World War II, Mountbatten commanded the HMS Kelly, which was destroyed in a German air attack during the Battle of Crete in 1941. In 1942, he became Chief of Combined Operations and organized the Dieppe Raid on German-occupied France. By 1943, he was appointed Supreme Allied Commander of the South East Asia Command.

Under his leadership, Allied forces defended against the Japanese offensive in north-eastern India, ultimately leading to Japan’s surrender in Singapore in September 1945, where Mountbatten formally received the surrender.

Lord Mountbatten, the Last Viceroy of India  

The decision to divide British India into independent states was driven by various factors, including the escalating communal violence and the persistent demand by Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah for a separate nation for Muslims. In March 1947, Lord Mountbatten was appointed as the last Viceroy of India, replacing Lord Wavell.

King George VI appointed Mountbatten on the recommendation of the then British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee. He was entrusted with the responsibility of overseeing the British withdrawal from India and ensuring a smooth transfer of power, which ultimately led to the partition of India and Pakistan.

During Mountbatten’s tenure as the last Viceroy of India in 1947, he had the responsibility to oversee the British withdrawal from the state. Amid brutal rioting, killings, and chaos caused by long-standing communal tension between the Indian National Congress (INC) and the All India Muslim League (AIML), the interim government established in September 1946 was headed by Jawaharlal Nehru at the time and was unable to stop the violence. This led to the belief that it was futile to fight against the Muslim League's demand for a separate Pakistan.

The Mountbatten Plan was proposed to address the growing communal violence at the time and to ensure a smooth transfer of power without further conflict.

The 3rd June Plan 

By 1947, India witnessed the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan proposed in 1946, primarily due to disagreements between the Muslim League and the Indian National Congress. On 3rd June 1947, the Mountbatten Plan—named after Lord Mountbatten—was introduced, outlining several measures for the partition of British India.

According to the plan, the Legislative Assembly of Sindh would independently decide whether to join India or Pakistan. A referendum was held in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) to determine whether it would become part of India or Pakistan. Similarly, a referendum took place in the Sylhet district of Assam to decide whether it would remain with India or join East Bengal (now part of Pakistan). Both NWFP and Sylhet opted to join Pakistan.

The plan also stated that the Legislative Assemblies of Punjab and Bengal would vote on whether their provinces should be partitioned. As a result, Punjab and Bengal were divided—East Punjab and West Bengal remained with India, while West Punjab and East Bengal became part of Pakistan.

To facilitate this division, a Boundary Commission was established in 1947 under the chairmanship of Sir Cyril Radcliffe. The commission consisted of four members from the Indian National Congress and four from the Muslim League and was tasked with demarcating the borders of Punjab and Bengal.

The Mountbatten Plan granted both India and Pakistan the autonomy to draft their own constitutions. It also stated that the princely states would have the option to remain independent or join either of the two new dominions.

See Also:

Lord Mountbatten proposed the ‘3rd June Plan’, under which the British government approved the India-Pakistan partition. The officials of the interim government, except Mahatma Gandhi accepted the proposal for partition, although some British officials including Mountbatten himself were not fond of the idea of separating India and Pakistan as independent dominions.

After Mountbatten was appointed the first Governor-General of India on 15 August 1947, he influenced many princely states to join India after the partition.

The Mountbatten Plan later laid the foundational structure of the India Independence Act 1947. The British government approved the Act on 5 July, 1947 and implemented it on 15 August, 1947, leading to the partition of India and Pakistan. [Rh/VS]