'Memoirs and Recollections of An Officer of the Indian Political Service' [‎63r] (125/156)

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head - the same as anyone else! We of the Indian Services were universally saddened to
see him leave India suddenly before the end of his time and in circumstances which
clearly indicated that he had lost the confidence of Ministers in London. We knew
nothing of course of the battles he had waged to preserve the integrity of India as
one country and as a single nation in the face of the intransigence of the Hinu Leaders
of Congress and the refusal of Mohd Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League to countepnance the
integration of their co-religionists in the new independent state.
Lord Wavell had been beset on every side by powerful influences which were totally
irreconcilable, and he clearly needed, and had asked for, more time to enable him to
heal the bitter differences between the Hindus and Sikh politicians on the one hand,
and Jinnah and his followers on the other. But this, Attlee’s Government was not
prepared to grant him. In addition to the politicians there were also the positions
of the Indian States to be safeguarded. After all, as a body they governed no less than
two-fifths of the land mass of India, and a sizeable proportion of its 500 million
inhabitants. So Wavell departed, a man of honour and highly respected, to make way
for his successor who had been granted by the Labour Government a mandate to bring
about the earliest possible serverance of the British link. Mountbatten brought with
him his own advisers and his own personal staff to supplement the existing establishment
of the Viceroy’s staff under the leadership of the Private Secretary. It was not long
before we in the Political Department felt the effects of the new hand on the wheel.
The New Viceroy soon announced that the transfer of power was imminent; this was
followed by the fixing of the date, the 15th of August 1947. A special calendar was
printed and circulated to all officers of the various departments of government in New
Delhi, covering the weeks leading up to the chosen date. On each page was set out the
number of days which remained before the formal transfer of power. As the day's page
was torn out or turned over, the next displayed one day less, and so on.
The Princes were of course dismayed and confused. They had never been conspicuous for
unity or willingness to work and co-operate together. What they now faced was the
realisation that, in the short space of time that remained before the paramount power
of the British lapsed for ever, it would be quite impossible for them to negotiate
suitable arrangements which would enable them to safeguard their own privileged posi
tions. They took counsel amongst themselves, but they could not agree on a united front.
Some of the more powerful and intransigent amongst them and others less powerful
decided to ride out the impending storm on their own.
Faced with the formidable time-table before us, we officials in the Political Department
did what we could but the task was beyond us. Apart from the preservation of the con
stitutional rights of the Indian Princes, for whom - in a few weeks time - we would no
longer be responsible, there were many other intractable problems. The Military