THE THIRD JUNE PLAN

THE THIRD JUNE PLAN

On Feb. 20, 1947, the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee made a statement in the British Parliament declaring that:

1.                  India shall be given independent by June, 1948.

2.                  If the Constitution Assembly fails to frame constitution withinin the stipulated time lime, the British government shall decide if the powers are to be transferred to a central government or certain provincial governments.

3.                  Mountbatten was appointed viceroy, he was to replace Wavell.

Mountbatten reached India on March 22, 1946. He discussed matters with the Indian leaders and was convinced that it was not possible to keep India united for longer period of time. Mountbatten worked out a partition plan and flew to England to seek approval of the British Govt. on the plan. The approval was readily granted. On his return back, he took seven important Indian leaders, including the Q.A M.A Jinnah in confidence. Given approval by all major Indian political parties the partition plan was announced by the Viceroy on June 3, 1947, following are the salient features of this plan:

Constitution:

·                     The British govt declared that it will not impose a constitution in India but the Constituent Assembly will frame a constitution.

Constitution assembly:

·                     The constitution will not be imposed on the areas that do not accept it. Opinion will be sought from them if they want to set up a separate CA (Constituent Assembly). So there would be a separate CA for the regions or the provinces that do not want to be part of one constitution.

Punjab and Bengal assemblies:

·                     Punjab & Bengal Assemblies will meet in two parts, members from Muslim majority areas and other districts separately to decide if the province be partitioned.

Partition:

·                     If any part of the assembly decides for partition, then the assembly will also decide that whether it wants to be a part of the new CA or the old CA, each group will decide which CA they wish to join.

Sindh:

·                     For the province of Sindh the Plan provided Sindh Assembly will decide about joining either side.

NWFP:

·                     Situation in NWFP was somewhat complicated, here a non ML govt was functioning which was not supportive of the partition of India, and establishing a separate Muslim state, therefore the June 3^rd plan provided that a Referendum would be held in NWFP.

Baluchistan:

·                     For Baluchistan: it was provided that an appropriate method would be adopted to know the opinion there. I may mention here that the Baluchistan was not a full province at that time

Boundary commission:

·                     A Boundary Commission would be appointed for demarcation in the Punjab and Bengal that the boundaries of these two provinces would be determined by a boundary commission

Princely states:

·                     The last significant provision of the June 3^rd plan was about the princely states Princely states will have to decide for themselves whether they want to join Pakistan or Indiakeeping in view their geographical contiguity where they are located and then they will have to decide about their political future.

we can say that the June 3^rd plan was a kind of decision which the British made about the political future of India and it envisaged partition. In a way it was an indirect acceptance of Pakistan because it left on the assemblies to decide whether they want to become part of India or Pakistan. So it was in a way a way-out for the establishment of Pakistan. The Ml accepted and Q.A. speaks on all India Radio for the first time and concluded with Pakistan zinda abad. The Congress also accepted it with hard heart. Now this plan was to give a legal shape,