Mountbatten Plan

Also called: 3 June Plan · Topic: The National Movement: Gandhian Era · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Mountbatten Plan (also called the 3 June Plan) was the plan the last Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, announced on 3 June 1947. It divided British India into two dominions, India and Pakistan, and moved the date of handing over power forward to 15 August 1947. It is the point where Partition became official policy. Both Congress and the Muslim League accepted it, and the Indian Independence Act, 1947 turned it into law.

Explanation

Background: why Partition became the only exit

A three-way deadlock. After the Lahore Resolution (March 1940), any settlement needed Congress, the League and the British to agree. That almost never happened.
Cripps Mission (1942) failed because Britain would not give an Indian Defence Member. [1]
Cabinet Mission (1946) had planned a united India with a weak centre. It collapsed when Nehru said no constituent assembly could be bound by a pre-set formula, and Jinnah called this a complete rejection of the plan. [2]
The 1946 elections showed a split country. Congress won the General seats and the League won the Muslim seats. Each side could now claim to speak for its community.
Violence pushed the pace. The League's Direct Action Day (16 August 1946) set off the Calcutta riots. The killing spread to Bengal, Bihar, UP and Punjab.
Britain wanted to leave. The Labour government that came to power in 1945 was committed to Indian independence. In February 1947 Prime Minister Attlee announced that Britain would leave India by June 1948, and named Mountbatten as the new Viceroy. Mountbatten took charge in March 1947.
Mountbatten's answer: freedom, but with Partition. He held quick talks with Indian leaders. He concluded that a united India could no longer be saved.

Main features of the 3 June Plan

Two dominions. Power would go to two separate governments, India and Pakistan. A dominion is a fully self-governing country that still keeps the British Crown as its formal head. Mountbatten proposed that Hindu-majority areas go to Congress and Muslim-majority areas go to the League. [3]
Punjab and Bengal to decide by vote. The legislative assemblies of these two provinces would meet in two separate parts: members from Hindu-majority districts and members from Muslim-majority districts.
If either part voted for partition, the province would be divided.
Sind would decide through its own legislative assembly.
Referendums (direct votes by the people):
in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), on joining India or Pakistan
in the Sylhet district of Assam, on joining East Bengal
Boundary Commissions would draw the actual border lines in Punjab and Bengal if those provinces were divided.
Princely states were not divided. British paramountcy (the Crown's overall control over the princes) would end. Each state would be free to join India or Pakistan.
A separate Constituent Assembly would be set up for Pakistan.
Earlier date. Power would be handed over on 15 August 1947, not by June 1948.

How it worked out

Acceptance. Congress and the League both accepted the plan. Congress did so unwillingly, to end the violence and get freedom quickly. Gandhi did not accept Partition in principle, and Congress never accepted the two-nation theory.
The votes:
The Punjab and Bengal assemblies voted for partition. This created West and East Punjab and West Bengal and East Bengal (East Bengal later became East Pakistan).
Sind chose Pakistan.
NWFP voted to join Pakistan in its referendum. Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan's Khudai Khidmatgars boycotted that vote.
Sylhet voted to join East Bengal.
Boundaries. The commissions were chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe. The border they drew is called the Radcliffe Line. It was made public only after independence.
Into law. The British Parliament passed the Indian Independence Act on 18 July 1947. It created two dominions from 15 August 1947. [4]

Results

Independence and Partition came together on 15 August 1947.
Very short timeline. About 10 weeks separated the plan from the handover. This left little time to organise the split of the army, the government services and government property. It also gave no time to protect people caught on the wrong side of the new border.
Mass migration and riots, especially in Punjab and Bengal. On 15 August 1947 Gandhi was in Calcutta on a 24-hour fast, not at the celebrations. He spent the following months doing peace work in Bengal and Delhi.

Time, place and evidence

Period: the end of British rule, June–August 1947. It falls at the close of the Gandhian era.
Key people:
Lord Mountbatten, the last Viceroy
Clement Attlee, the Labour Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel for Congress
M.A. Jinnah for the Muslim League
Gandhi, who opposed Partition
Sir Cyril Radcliffe, who chaired the boundary commissions
Regions affected: Punjab, Bengal, Sind, NWFP, Sylhet (Assam) and the princely states.
Evidence:
Official British records: the 3 June 1947 statement and the Indian Independence Act, 1947. [4]
Records of the assembly votes, the referendums and the boundary awards.
Standard reference accounts of the transfer of power. [3]

Don't confuse with

Cabinet Mission Plan (1946): aimed to keep India united, with a three-tier federation and a centre holding only defence, foreign affairs and communications. [2] The Mountbatten Plan divided India.
Attlee's statement (February 1947): announced that Britain would leave by June 1948. The Mountbatten Plan moved that date forward to 15 August 1947.
Indian Independence Act, 1947: the law passed on 18 July 1947. [4] The Mountbatten Plan was the policy announcement of 3 June 1947 that the Act put into effect.
Lahore Resolution (March 1940): the League's demand for autonomy for Muslim-majority areas. The Mountbatten Plan was Britain's decision to partition.

Prelims Hooks

Mountbatten Plan = 3 June Plan (1947): Partition into India and Pakistan as two dominions; handover moved forward from June 1948 to 15 August 1947.
Referendums were held only in NWFP and Sylhet (Assam). Trap: Punjab and Bengal had no referendum. Their legislative assemblies voted in two separate parts.
Princely states were not partitioned. Paramountcy ended, and each state could join India or Pakistan.
Boundary commissions chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe drew the Radcliffe Line.
Chronology: Direct Action Day (16 Aug 1946) → Attlee's statement (Feb 1947) → 3 June Plan (1947) → Indian Independence Act (18 July 1947) → independence (15 Aug 1947). [4]
Mountbatten proposed giving Hindu-majority areas to Congress and Muslim-majority areas to the League. [3]

Mains Points

Partition as the British exit route. Every earlier offer failed on the Congress–League split: Cripps on the Defence Member and the Cabinet Mission on whether the constituent assembly was bound by a pre-set formula. [1][2] After the 1946 elections and Direct Action Day, the 3 June Plan was the only formula both parties would sign. A GS-I answer should show Partition as the end of a long deadlock, not a sudden choice.
Speed and its cost. Bringing the date forward to 15 August 1947 helped Britain leave quickly and forced a decision. But the boundaries were published only after independence and there was almost no plan for moving people. This made the Punjab and Bengal killings and mass migration much worse. Historians still debate whether the haste saved lives by ending uncertainty or cost lives through poor preparation.
Accepting Partition without accepting the two-nation theory. Congress agreed to divide the country but declared India "a democratic secular State" with equal rights for all citizens, whatever their religion. Gandhi's peace work in Calcutta and Delhi reflected the same idea. This link explains the secular basis of the Indian Constitution.

Related concepts

War, Quit India, Partition and the last heroic days, 1935–48

Sources

1Cripps Missionbritannica.com · tier 3
2Cabinet Mission Planbritannica.com · tier 3
3India — Partition, Independence, Freedombritannica.com · tier 3
4Indian Independence Act, 1947britannica.com · tier 3