Number of words: 520
It was not the massacres alone but the response to it of the Indian politicians, of all those who were then engaged in fighting this ‘war of succession’ in India, that was so inexpressibly tragic, also so unforgivable. Nehru was too preoccupied by this idea of forming the fi rst independent, even if interim government of India and remained largely oblivious to these rumblings in Calcutta. When asked by the press (on early reports of the riots) whether Calcutta’s disturbances would affect his plans, Nehru replied, ‘Our programme will certainly not be upset because a few persons misbehave in Calcutta’. 46 Once the scale of the tragedy struck the Congress, no time was lost in placing the responsibility for it squarely on the League ministry’s head in Bengal, this time with ample justification, though. Then that sad, cruel, and empty blame game began, each blaming the other, even as death and communal fear haunted the streets, lanes and alleys of Calcutta. August 1946 was followed by that major communal riot of 1947, in Calcutta in late March. Thereafter, rioting became endemic, a chronic ailment afflicting this great metropolis. And the disease being highly contagious spread at the speed of a forest fire, jumping from one area to another, province to province, one riot being but the forerunner of another and thus seemingly an endless contagion.
Could one have foreseen all these ominous portents? With the Cabinet delegation returning to Britain, the Muslim League felt it had been outmanoeuvred, also let down and then deceived. Since the formation of an interim government had been shelved, Jinnah demanded that the election to the Constituent Assembly be also postponed, and when even that demand was turned down he accused the Cabinet Mission of a flagrant breach of faith, characterising the Cabinet Mission’s interpretation of para 8 as ‘most fantastic and dishonest’. All this was perhaps foreseeable, and yet Jinnah’s discomfiture evoked little sympathy, the general verdict being that he had been hoist with his own petard. It was only Gandhi that then stood up for him: ‘They (the Cabinet Mission) should not have dealt with him (Jinnah) in that legalistic manner,’ he said. ‘He is a great Indian and the recognised leader of a great organisation.’
As already mentioned, in consequence of their request having been denied the League Council met on 29 July and withdrew its previous acceptance of the 16 May plan of the Cabinet Mission plan. And this is when the League further decided to launch ‘Direct Action’ to achieve Pakistan and ‘to organise the Muslims for the coming struggle to be launched as and when necessary’. This is also when 16 August was declared as the Direct Action day, to be observed all over India as a day of protest. Immediately after this Direct Action resolution had been adopted Jinnah, in the concluding session of the Council of the Muslim League, declared amidst loud applause, ‘Today we bid good-bye to constitutional methods.’ And again: ‘We have also forged a pistol and are in a position to use it.’
Excerpted from Page 215-216 of ‘Jinnah: India-Partition Independence’ by Jaswant Singh