Assess the role of British imperial power in complicating the process of transfer of power during the 1940s. (UPSC IAS Mains 2019 General Studies Paper – 1)
Britain never wanted to leave India but the promise to the Indian National Congress of independence in return of Indian resources and army during World War Two; the post war financial and political exhaustion; change in political power at the centre (Labour Party) whose ideology favoured the Congress party; increasing global pressure and the inability to crush Indian leaders’ will and efforts finally led to the Indian independence. However, Britain did succeed in making the process of transfer of power so complicated and hard that India still suffers from them.
Cabinet Mission
- Sir Stafford Cripps was responsible for drafting the Cabinet Mission Plan, which proposed a complicated system for India with three tiers- the provinces, provincial groupings and the centre. The centre’s power was confined to foreign affairs, defence, currency and communication only.
- Three major groups of provinces: Group A, to include the Hindu-majority provinces; Group B, containing the Muslim-majority provinces (western Pakistan); and Group C, to include the Muslim-majority Bengal (eastern Pakistan).
- Even though both Nehru and Jinnah eventually refused to accept it, Lord Wavell authorised a cabinet with Nehru as the Interim Prime Minister which enraged Jinnah who in turn resorted to direct action of sparking riots and massacres.
Partition
- In July, 1947 the British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act which provided for the demarcation of India and Pakistan by midnight of August 14–15, 1947, in just one month. Two Nations Theory was an important factor here and fuelled communalism.
- The task of demarcating the boundaries was given to a British lawyer, Sir Cyril Radcliffe who had never visited the country before and was clueless about the social and political consequences of his decision. Two boundary commissions were set up for it.
- During partition, there was a large-scale communal violence and forced migration of people, probably the biggest in history.
Autonomy to Princely States
- The British paramountcy on the princely states and all the existing treaties of Britain with the princely states before the independence ended in 1947.
- As princely states were not a part of the British India, they became independent and had the option to either merge with India or with Pakistan or to stay independent.
- Even after the efforts of Lord Mountbatten, Nehru and Patel, few princely states like Kashmir, Junagadh and Hyderabad posed some serious challenges in the already troubled times.
It was hard to let go of the main resource supplier and the market consumer but when the odds were not in favour of Britain, it gave independence to India but made sure to create some contentious issues while leaving India. A lot of current day problems like issue of enclaves with Bangladesh (later resolved through The Constitution 100th Amendment Act, 2015), the migration issue, Kashmir issue between India-Pakistan etc. have their roots in the complications created by the British imperial power during the 1940s.
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