| With reference to the partition of India, consider the following statements: |
| 1. Badshah Khan declared NWFP would join neither India nor Pakistan but would be an independent and sovereign Pakhtoonistan. |
| 2. In the AICC meeting in June 1947, Mahatma Gandhi opposed the Mountbatten Plan while Purushottamdas Tandon spoke in favour of it. Which of the statements given above is/are correct? |
A) 1 only
B) 2 only
C) Both 1 and 2
D) neither 1 nor 2
Correct Answer: C
Solution :
[c] The issue of whether the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) should be a part of Pakistan or independent is becoming more and more difficult. Mahatma Gandhi gets Jinnah and Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan - better known as Badshah Khan or Frontier Gandhi - to sit down and talk but it does not seem to lead anywhere. After the break down of talks between Jinnah and Badshah Khan, Gandhi supports the demand for an independent NWFP. Badshah Khan announces that he and his followers will boycott the NWFP referendum on joining Pakistan. Sind assembly takes just 15 minutes to vote in favour of joining Pakistan. In NWFP, a thousand tribals hold a demonstration in support of an independent Pathanistan. Voters in NWFP and Sylhet vote in a referendum over joining Pakistan. There is tension in NWFP as followers of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan decided to observe a Pathanistan Day. But Gandhi writes to the Frontier Gandhi saying there should be no demonstrations against the Muslim League. Gandhi foresees an arms race between India and Pakistan as the "freedom fight is approaching an inglorious end". The referendum results from NWFP show that the province has decided by a slender margin to join Pakistan. The division of British India into two separate states was completed according to the Mountbatten Plan (also known as the 3 June plan). This plan was announced on June 3rd 1947 by Lord Mountbatten, along with the date for independence, August 15th 1947. The main points of the plan were that Sikhs, Hindus and Muslims in the Punjab and Bengal legislative assemblies would vote for Partition. If a majority of either group voted in favour of Partition, the provinces would be split. Apart from this, the plan also required Sindh to take its own decision and the destiny of North West Frontier Province and Sylhet district of Bengal would be decided by a referendum. The plan ruled out the separate independence of Bengal and in case Partition was voted as a viable option, a boundary commission was to be set up. Mahatma Gandhi was against the division of India against religious lines and believed that Hindus and Muslims should live together peacefully in one country.
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