Introduction
From 12 February 1947 to 15 August 1947, Lord Mountbatten held the position of last Viceroy of India. From 15 August 1947 to 21 June 1948, he held the position of first Governor General of Free India. India attained independence under his leadership as two Pakistani dominions. Mahatma Gandhi was shot dead, Pakistan raided Kashmir, and two boundary commissions were established. As India’s final Viceroy and its first Governor-General, Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, was a British diplomat and naval officer.
Significant Events During Lord Mountbatten’s Tenure
Pakistan Day
Lord Mountbatten started the process to transfer power as soon as he arrived.
- Pakistan Day was marked on March 27, 1947, and this led to rioting, massacres, and other horrors.
- The leaders of the Interim Government, including Nehru, later realised the futility of their opposition to the Muslim League’s demand for a separate Pakistan after the Interim Government, which had been in place since 2 September 1946, had failed to suppress the riots.
1947 Dickie Bird Plan
“Dickie Bird Plan” was created by Mountbatten for the independence of India. This plan’s key recommendation was that provinces, not an Indian Union or India and Pakistan’s two dominions, should be the first independent successor states.
- This proposal called for the declaration of independence for every province, including Madras, Bombay, the United Provinces of Bengal, Punjab, and the North West Frontier. States would later choose whether or not to participate in the constituent assembly.
- Nehru immediately opposed the proposal, warning him that it would encourage the Balkanization of India and lead to conflict and violence. As a result, Mountbatten cabled England to inform them that this proposal was scrapped.
1947: Indian Independence Act
The Mountbatten Plan of June 3, 1947, served as the foundation for the Indian Independence Act, which was approved by the British parliament on July 5, 1947.
- On July 18, 1947, it was given royal approval. It formed Pakistan and India as two dominant states.
- A Boundary Commission led by Sir Cyril Radcliff was tasked with drawing the borders between the two dominion nations. In addition to separate boundary commissioners being established to delineate their respective borders, it proposed the division of Bengal and Punjab.
- The princely states no longer fell under the control of the British Crown, and they were free to join either Pakistan or India or to maintain their independence.
- The British King was to select governor generals for both India and Pakistan. If both sides concurred, the act also allowed for a common governor-general.
Evaluation Of Lord Mountbatten’s Tenure
Because of his knowledge of the area, Lord Mountbatten was suggested as Viceroy of India by Clement Attlee, the new British Prime Minister.
- He had positive relationships with other Indian leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi when he started his mission, but he felt differently about Muhammad Ali Jinnah.
- Pakistan was something Jinnah was adamant about creating. Lord Mountbatten made futile attempts to convince Jinnah of the advantages of a united India.
- All Indian party leaders (save Gandhi) agreed to Jinnah’s proposal to divide India, which made Mountbatten’s job easier. This was despite Mountbatten’s tenacity, Nehru and Patel’s unwillingness to deal with the Muslim League and Jinnah’s stubbornness.
- His strong ties to Indian princes helped convince many of them to join the Union of India, but his failure to persuade the princely kingdoms of Hyderabad, Junagadh, and Jammu and Kashmir to come to the same decision would result in future hostilities between India and Pakistan.
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Conclusion
In 1954, he succeeded his father, who had served as the first sea lord for more than 40 years. Finally, he was named chief of the defence staff in 1959, and he retired from the Navy in 1965. When IRA (Irish Republican Army) terrorists detonated Mountbatten’s yacht off the coast of County Sligo, Ireland, close to his family’s vacation house at Classiebawn Castle, he was killed on August 27, 1979.
