On this day in 1947, Admiral of the Fleet Albert Victor Nicholas Louis Francis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, a close relative of the British royal family, was appointed Viceroy and Governor-General of India to oversee the transition of British India to independence no later than June 30, 1948.  Mountbatten’s instructions were to avoid partition and preserve a united India as a result of the transfer of power but he was authorized to adapt to a changing situation in order to get Britain out promptly with minimal reputational damage.

Mountbatten arrived in India on March 22 by air, from London. In the evening, he was taken to his residence and two days later, he took the Viceregal oath. His arrival saw large-scale communal riots in Delhi, Bombay and Rawalpindi. Mountbatten concluded that the situation was too volatile to wait even a year before granting independence to India. Although his advisers favoured a gradual transfer of independence, Mountbatten decided the only way forward was a quick and orderly transfer of power before 1947 was out. In his view, any longer would mean civil war. Mountbatten also hurried so he could return to his senior technical Navy courses.

Mountbatten was fond of Congress leader Jawaharlal Nehru and his liberal outlook on the country. He felt differently about the Muslim League leader Muhammad Ali Jinnah, but was aware of his power, stating “If it could be said that any single man held the future of India in the palm of his hand in 1947, that man was Mohammad Ali Jinnah During his meeting with Jinnah on April 1947, Mountbatten tried to persuade him of a united India, citing the difficult task of dividing the mixed states of Punjab and Bengal, but the Muslim leader was unyielding in his goal of establishing a separate Muslim state called Pakistan.

Given the British government’s recommendations to grant independence quickly, Mountbatten concluded that a united India was an unachievable goal and resigned himself to a plan for partition, creating the independent nations of India and Pakistan. Mountbatten set a date for the transfer of power from the British to the Indians, arguing that a fixed timeline would convince Indians of his and the British government’s sincerity in working towards a swift and efficient independence, excluding all possibilities of stalling the process.

Among the Indian leaders, Mahatma Gandhi emphatically insisted on maintaining a united India and for a while successfully rallied people to this goal. During his meeting with Mountbatten, Gandhi asked Mountbatten to invite Jinnah to form a new central government, but Mountbatten never uttered a word of Gandhi’s ideas to Jinnah.  When Mountbatten’s timeline offered the prospect of attaining independence soon, sentiments took a different turn. Given Mountbatten’s determination, Nehru and Sardar Patel‘s inability to deal with the Muslim League and, lastly, Jinnah’s obstinacy, all Indian party leaders (except Gandhi) acquiesced to Jinnah’s plan to divide India, which in turn eased Mountbatten’s task. Mountbatten also developed a strong relationship with the Indian princes, who ruled those portions of India not directly under British rule. His intervention was decisive in persuading the vast majority of them to see advantages in opting to join the Indian Union. On one hand, the integration of the princely states can be viewed as one of the positive aspects of his legacy but on the other, the refusal of Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, and Junagadh to join one of the dominions led to future wars between Pakistan and India.

Mountbatten brought forward the date of the partition from June 1948 to August 15, 1947. The uncertainty of the borders caused Muslims and Hindus to move into the direction where they felt they would get the majority. Hindus and Muslims were thoroughly terrified, and the Muslim movement from the East was balanced by a similar movement of Hindus from the West. A boundary committee chaired by Sir Cyril Radcliffe was charged with drawing boundaries for the new nations. With a mandate to leave as many Hindus and Sikhs in India and as many Muslims in Pakistan as possible, Radcliffe came up with a map that split the two countries along the Punjab and Bengal borders. This left 14 million people on the “wrong” side of the border, and very many of them fled to “safety” on the other side when the new lines were announced.

When India and Pakistan attained independence at midnight of August 14–15 1947, Mountbatten was alone in his study at the Viceroy’s house saying to himself just before the clock struck midnight that for still a few minutes, he was the most powerful man on Earth. At 12 a.m., as a last act of showmanship, he created Joan Falkiner, the Australian wife of the Nawab of Palanpur, a highness, an act that was apparently one of his favourite duties that was annulled at the stroke of midnight.

Mountbatten remained in New Delhi for 10 months, serving as the first governor-general of an independent India until June 1948.

On Mountbatten’s advice, India took the issue of Kashmir to the newly formed United Nations in January 1948. This issue would become a lasting thorn in his legacy and one that is not resolved to this day.

Accounts differ on the future that Mountbatten desired for Kashmir. Pakistani accounts suggest that Mountbatten favoured the accession of Kashmir to India, citing his close relationship to Nehru. Mountbatten’s own account says that he simply wanted Maharaja Hari Singh, to make up his mind. The viceroy made several attempts to mediate between the Congress leaders, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and Hari Singh on issues relating to the accession of Kashmir, though he was largely unsuccessful in resolving the conflict. After the tribal invasion of Kashmir, it was his suggestion that India moved to secure the accession of Kashmir from Hari Singh before sending in military forces for his defence.

Mountbatten served as the first Governor-General of the Union of India until June 1948 and in 1952, was appointed commander-in-chief of the British Mediterranean  Fleet and NATO Commander Allied Forces Mediterranean.

In August 1979, Mountbatten was assassinated by a bomb planted aboard his fishing boat in Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland, by members of the Provisional Irish Republican Army. He received a ceremonial funeral at Westminster Abbey and was buried in Romsey Abbey in Hampshire.

-Wikipedia

Viceroy of India: Lord and Lady Mountbatten with Mahatma Gandhi-Wikipedia