Word: mountbatten
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Just back from London, Rear Admiral Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, Viceroy of India, stoutly urged the Hindu, Moslem and other leaders and princes to accept Britain's plan to keep India united
Agreement to Disunite. Far away from the Jumna's banks, in the quiet atmosphere of London's No. 10 Downing St., a Briton who had striven desperately to save Mother India from vivisection reluctantly prepared the operating table. Rear Admiral Viscount Mountbatten of Burma, Viceroy of India, laid before the full British Cabinet his plan for handing over British power to Indians. The knotty question was, what power to which Indians? Every Indian leader except Mohandas Gandhi had agreed that they could not unite, but could not agree how to disunite...
...Dickie" Mountbatten was for a quick showdown. India's leaders would meet in Delhi June 2. Mountbatten would give them one more chance to accept or reject, once & for all, Britain's 1946 plan for India-a loose federation of states. If they rejected it (and Mohamed Ali Jinnah, the Moslem leader, almost certainly would), then Mountbatten would suggest an alternative. Under it, each province could decide for itself whether 1) to join Hindustan, 2) to join Pakistan, 3) to set itself up as an independent nation...
...worked for unity. The Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten (who had just returned from a peace tour in the turbulent North-West Frontier Province), sent two emissaries to London. Their report stressed the danger of dissolution, but contained no suggestion that the British remain in India beyond next year's deadline...
There was one pleasant surprise. The Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, invited all of official New Delhi and the delegates to a cozy at home with guards flanking the fountains and spotlights playing on the fabulous flowerbeds of the Mogul gardens. Englishmen and Indians alike were surprised by the outpouring of guests (about 700). Said a Mountbatten aide, remarking the presence of dhoti-clad Devadas Gandhi, the Mahatma's son: "People are here who would never have attended the Viceroy's affairs in the old days." (This week Mohandas Gandhi planned to visit Viceroy House to talk about Britain...