A life of ideals

Gandhi with Lord and Lady Mountbatten during their first meeting in Delhi. -Photos from the book

‘An Anaesthetic Is Required Before The Operation’

Lord Mountbatten and Lady Edwina arrived in Delhi on March 22, 1947, to draw the curtain on British rule in India. They were a handsome couple with royal connections and soon charmed everyone. Within 24 hours of his arrival as India’s last viceroy, Mountbatten faced his first challenge when Jinnah announced in public that Partition was the only solution to the communal conflict. Mountbatten tried his best to bridge the strained relationship between Gandhi and Jinnah. He would later elaborate on his strategy during an address to the Royal Society in London in Oct 1948, after he had left India. He said that he had tried to get them together “to talk and to gossip”. He got Gandhi to speak about his early life in South Africa while Jinnah spoke about his years in London. Jinnah, however, stubbornly stuck to his two‑nation stand. In his London address, Mountbatten recalled: “I was convinced that the right solution for them would have been to keep a united India under the plan of the British Cabinet Mission. Mr Jinnah made it abundantly clear from the first moment that so long as he lived, he would never accept a united India. He demanded Partition, he insisted on Pakistan.” Mountbatten disclosed that the Congress leaders wanted an undivided India but accepted Partition to avoid a civil war. “When I told Jinnah that I had their (Congress) provisional agreement to Partition, he was overjoyed. When I said that it logically followed that this would involve partition of the Punjab and Bengal, he was horrified.”

An illustrated biography of Gandhi tells much that is not so well known about him

Mountbatten had a reputation for being strong‑willed and logical, a man who could take daring decisions. Gandhi would prove even more daring. He suggested that Jinnah should be empowered to form a Muslim government to rule over the whole of India. Nehru and the Congress shot down that proposal and when the Congress eventually agreed to Partition, Gandhi issued a statement for all Indians saying: “Support your leaders”. The determined Jinnah had the better of Gandhi but it would prove an expensive victory. Jinnah demanded a quick, surgical division, to which Mountbatten responded: “an anaesthetic is required before the operation.” The best Mountbatten could do was to try and ensure a peaceful parting of sides. But this was not destined to be.

Gandhi And 15 August 1947, Independence Day

Aug 15, 1947, was a historic day for millions of Indians. Yet, for the chief architect of the freedom movement Mahatma Gandhi it was special for different reasons. It was the fifth death anniversary of his closest associate Mahadev Desai. He awoke at 2am, an hour earlier than his routine, at Hyderi Manzil, an old run‑down Muslim home in Beliaghata, Calcutta. Like every Aug 15 for the past five years, he fasted and had the entire Gita recited in memory of his late secretary. He had been invited to Delhi to participate in the celebrations by the newly formed Indian government, but declined, preferring to stay in Calcutta and work for peace among Hindus and Muslims.

A day earlier Gandhi had asked for armed guards to be withdrawn from Hyderi Manzil and replaced with Hindu and Muslim volunteers. His Muslim hosts had decorated the house with the Indian tricolour as thousands were expected to greet Gandhi. In the pre‑dawn darkness, groups of young girls arrived singing Rabindranath Tagore’s songs. According to Pyarelal, Gandhi’s secretary and biographer, “they came and stopped outside the window of Gandhiji’s room ... Reverently they stopped their singing, joined the prayer, sang again, took darshan and departed. A little later another batch of girls came and sang songs ... a beautiful beginning to the day ....”

In the afternoon Gandhi walked to a nearby maidan in Beliaghata for a prayer meeting. Hindus, Muslims, and people from all walks of life attended the meeting and shouted “Hindu Muslim ek ho” (Hindus Muslims unite).

As Lord Mountbatten later said, “... in Punjab we have 55 thousand soldiers and large‑scale rioting on our hands. ... in Bengal our forces consist of one man, and there is no rioting.”

Gandhi saw Aug 15, 1947, not as Independence but Partition Day.