by A. G. NOORANI
Lord Wavell (left) with Lord Mountbatten, who replaced him as the Viceroy, at the Government House in New Delhi on March 22, 1947. PHOTO/Hindu Archives A well-researched book tracing Archibald Wavell’s career as the Viceroy of India.
India has been utterly unappreciative of if not, indeed, ungrateful to Archibald Wavell for the services he rendered in fighting against all odds, including his superiors, to preserve India’s unity. In contrast, the services of his successor as Viceroy, Louis Mountbatten, were exaggerated and his flaws overlooked by many.
Lord Wavell was Viceroy in 1946 when three British Cabinet Ministers descended on India and unfolded a plan, announced on May 16, 1946, which would have preserved India’s unity. They were Frederick Pethick-Lawrence, Secretary of State for India and Burma, who was long past his prime; A.V. Alexander, a gentleman; and Stafford Cripps, a brilliant and devious lawyer. Gandhi voiced his reservations about the plan on the very next day, May 17, and maintained that he and the Congress had a right to interpret it while professing to accept it.
On June 24, Gandhi and the Ministers arrived at a secret pact varying the undertaking which members of the Constituent Assembly had to sign to abide by the Mission’s Plan under which the Assembly was set up. This was dropped and a vaguer formulation was adopted. How ethical was it for these people to reach such a pact in frenzied talks behind the back of the other party that had accepted the plan – the Muslim League led by Mohammad Ali Jinnah? He withdrew the League’s acceptance of the plan and India was divided. Wavell was opposed to this sordid pact. Maulana Azad was one of the few to recognise Wavell’s services.
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