Discuss the 3rd June Plan or Mountbatten Plan and also describe how it was implemented?

Introduction

In his broadcast on All-India Radio on 3 June 1947, Quaid-i-Azam accepted the partition plan and ended with the words "Pakistan Zindabad." On the same evening, Lord Mountbatten, Jawaharlal Nehru and Baldev Singh also addressed the nation. The plan announced that day, known as the 3 June Plan or Mountbatten Plan, provided for the division of British India into two dominions, India and Pakistan. Within just 72 days, it was implemented through votes, referendums, an act of the British Parliament, boundary awards and the division of assets, a process both historic and tragic.

Overview

After the failure of the Cabinet Mission Plan (1946), communal violence spread from Calcutta (August 1946) to Noakhali, Bihar and the Punjab. The Interim Government of Congress and League ministers was deadlocked. On 20 February 1947, British Prime Minister Clement Attlee announced that Britain would transfer power by June 1948. Lord Mountbatten arrived as Viceroy in March 1947, concluded after talks that partition was unavoidable, and obtained the consent of the leaders and the British cabinet to a plan that he announced on 3 June.

Main provisions of the 3 June Plan

1. Partition in principle.

If the Muslim-majority areas so decided, a separate Constituent Assembly would be formed for them, and power would be transferred to two governments. (Reference: Statement of 3 June 1947 by His Majesty's Government, Cmd. 7136.)

2. Votes in the Punjab and Bengal assemblies.

The legislative assemblies of the Punjab and Bengal would meet in two parts, Muslim-majority districts and the rest, and if either part voted for partition, the province would be divided. (Reference: Statement of 3 June 1947, paragraphs on Bengal and the Punjab.)

3. Sindh and Balochistan.

The Sindh Legislative Assembly would decide which Constituent Assembly to join, and in Balochistan, the Shahi Jirga and the non-official members of the Quetta Municipality would decide. (Reference: Statement of 3 June 1947.)

4. Referendums in NWFP and Sylhet.

Because the NWFP had a Congress ministry despite its Muslim majority, a referendum would decide its future; a referendum would also be held in the Muslim-majority Sylhet district of Assam on joining East Bengal. (Reference: Statement of 3 June 1947.)

5. Boundary commissions.

If partition of the Punjab and Bengal was decided, boundary commissions would demarcate the boundaries "on the basis of ascertaining the contiguous majority areas of Muslims and non-Muslims," taking into account "other factors." (Reference: Statement of 3 June 1947.)

6. Transfer of power by dominion status.

Power would be transferred to one or two governments with dominion status, which they could later leave if they wished. (Reference: Statement of 3 June 1947; V. P. Menon, The Transfer of Power in India, Orient Longman, 1957.)

7. The princely states.

Paramountcy would lapse, and the more than 560 princely states would be free to accede to either dominion, with Mountbatten advising them to consider geography and the wishes of their people. (Reference: Statement of 3 June 1947; Mountbatten's address to the Chamber of Princes, 25 July 1947.)

8. Advancing the date.

At a press conference on 4 June 1947, Mountbatten announced that power would be transferred on 15 August 1947, much earlier than June 1948. (Reference: Record of Lord Mountbatten's press conference, 4 June 1947, in Nicholas Mansergh (ed.), The Transfer of Power 1942-47, vol. XI, HMSO.)

How the plan was implemented

1. Acceptance by the parties.

The All-India Muslim League Council accepted the plan on 10 June 1947, and the All-India Congress Committee on 14-15 June 1947, despite opposition from some members. (Reference: Resolution of the All-India Muslim League Council, 10 June 1947; Resolution of the AICC, 15 June 1947.)

2. Votes in the provincial assemblies.

On 20 June, the Bengal assembly voted for partition; on 23 June, the Punjab assembly did the same; on 26 June, the Sindh assembly voted to join Pakistan; and on 29 June, the Balochistan Shahi Jirga and Quetta Municipality voted for Pakistan. (Reference: Mansergh (ed.), The Transfer of Power, vol. XI; Pirzada (ed.), Foundations of Pakistan.)

3. The referendums.

In the NWFP referendum (6-17 July 1947), an overwhelming majority of votes cast favoured Pakistan, though the Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted it. In Sylhet (6-7 July 1947), a majority voted to join East Bengal. (Reference: Government of India, results of the NWFP and Sylhet referendums, July 1947; Erland Jansson, India, Pakistan or Pakhtunistan?, Uppsala, 1981.)

4. The Indian Independence Act.

The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act, which received royal assent on 18 July 1947, creating two dominions from 15 August 1947, each with a Governor-General and a Constituent Assembly. (Reference: Indian Independence Act 1947, 10 & 11 Geo. 6, c. 30.)

5. The Partition Council and division of assets.

A Partition Council and expert committees divided the armed forces, civil services, assets and liabilities. Pakistan was allotted a share of cash balances, of which India withheld a large part until Gandhi intervened. (Reference: Chaudhri Muhammad Ali, The Emergence of Pakistan, Columbia University Press, 1967.)

6. The Radcliffe Award. Sir Cyril Radcliffe chaired both boundary commissions. His award, announced on 17 August 1947, two days after independence, gave the Muslim-majority tehsils of Gurdaspur and Batala, along with Pathankot, to India, providing it a land route to Kashmir, which Pakistan has always regarded as unjust. (Reference: Report of the Punjab Boundary Commission (Radcliffe Award), 12 August 1947; Chaudhri Muhammad Ali, The Emergence of Pakistan, 1967.)

7. The princely states' accession.

Most states acceded to India or Pakistan by 15 August, but disputes arose over Junagadh, Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir, the last of which led to the first India-Pakistan war. (Reference: V. P. Menon, The Story of the Integration of the Indian States, Orient Longman, 1956; UN Security Council Resolution 47 (1948).)

8. The transfer of power and its aftermath.

Jinnah was sworn in as Governor-General on 15 August 1947, after addressing the Constituent Assembly on 11 August. The hasty implementation was followed by massive migration of about 15 million people and communal violence that killed hundreds of thousands. (Reference: Jinnah's address to the Constituent Assembly, 11 August 1947; Yasmin Khan, The Great Partition, Yale University Press, 2007.)

Conclusion

In his broadcast of 3 June 1947, Quaid-i-Azam told the nation that it was for Muslims to consider whether the plan "should be accepted as a compromise or a settlement." Pakistan accepted it as the only route to a sovereign homeland, even with a divided Punjab and Bengal. The plan was implemented with remarkable speed through assembly votes, referendums, the Indian Independence Act, the Partition Council and the Radcliffe Award. But the haste, the injustice of the boundary award, the withholding of assets and the princely-state disputes left wounds, from Kashmir to the refugee crisis, that shaped the subcontinent for generations.