Did Mountbatten favour India in partition of India-Pakistan?

Upvote:1

Yes. Mainly because Jinnah was so arrogant and had a sort of superiority complex that Mountbatten did not like. Also, Jinnah was too eager to create Pakistan as early as possible so that he alone could take the credit for creating a Muslim state. All those irritated Mountbatten and he swung towards Hindus. Thus he favored India by offering majority of fertile regions to her.

Upvote:1

Yes. Believe it or not, when Pakistan invaded Kashmir in '47, it was Mountbatten who convinced the Maharaja of Kashmir to accede to India in return for military assistance to repel the Pakistani invasion.

Upvote:13

Yes he did.

According to Jinnah vs Gandhi, the possible reasons include:

  • Mountbatten was a liberal and was opposed to the religion based partition demands of Jinnah(the Father of Nation, Pakistan)
  • Nehru/Gandhi were good with diplomacy and negotiations
  • Mountbatten was not pleased with the demands and negotiation style of Jinnah so it was a personality clash
  • Though Radcliffe was impartial, he answered to Mountbatten and this swung some territory in India's favor
  • There was a timeline to be stuck to, Mountbatten made many screwups and a hasty exit from India to meet the deadline and prevent a possible civil war/bad press for the Crown.
  • The book Jinnah vs Gandhi by Roderick Mattews covers this part of the Gandhi-Jinnah-Montbatten relationship.

All these little factors tilted towards India and Nehru.

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