ABSTRACT
After the failure of the Cabinet Mission the communal situation deteriorated rapidly and the prospect of a settlement became infinitely more remote. His Majesty’s Government found themselves in a dilemma. They had declared their desire to hand over power, but, in the absence of any agreement between the parties, to whom were they to transfer it? In theory there were three courses of action open to them. They could continue to rule India indefinitely; they could impose a unitary constitution; or they could partition India; but to each of these courses there were grave practical objections. An indefinite continuance of British rule would have probably led to large-scale rebellion and the stern measures required to suppress it would have won neither sympathy from world opinion nor support from the British public. This policy would, in fact, have been universally regarded as a breach of faith. The second alternative, namely the imposition of an unitary constitution, would have been neither justifiable nor practicable in view of the evident determination of the ninety million Muslims to have partition. That determination had been made abundantly clear in the 1946 elections, when every Muslim seat in the Central Legislative Assembly had been won by pro-partition Muslims. The third choice—of accepting partition—was one which His Majesty’s Government were not yet prepared to follow.
