Partition Participants

When the British Raj needed to figure how to partition the Indian subcontinent into 2 nations, they looked for a candidate with 0 experience and qualifications. BUT ACTUALLY THOUGH.

Cyril John Radcliffe was a lawyer who had never stepped foot in South Asia. This guy knew so little about the subcontinent that he couldn’t tell you whether Kashmir was a place or a food. But according to Viceroy Mountbatten (the guy that died in a ⛵ explosion on The Crown), Radcliffe’s lack of expertise meant he could be “neutral.”

And folks wonder why there has been continual conflict since 1947...

So how was the Radcliffe Line, i.e. the borders between India and Pakistan (plus Bangladesh) created?

When Col. Radcliffe landed in pre-partition India, he thought he had one year to figure out where to draw the lines between India and Pakistan. Instead, he was given just 5 weeks.

Radcliffe used census data to separate majority-Muslim states from majority-Hindu states but the data was old and wrong. Also, because of the 5 week thing, key factors were ignored, like whether or not people would have access to water.

But let’s not give Radcliffe all the credit for partition. On June 2, 1947, Viceroy Mountbatten unveiled his plan for Britain’s exit. Nehru, Jinnah, Baldev Singh, J.B. Kripalani, Sardar Patel, “Pug” Ismay, Liaquat Ali Khan, and Abdur Nishtar were present.