Talk:1947 North-West Frontier Province referendum

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Some info in the Background section relating to the referendum was adapted from Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma#Last Viceroy of India and first Governor-General with refs. Just for the information. Khestwol (talk) 05:36, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Thanks. Can you also copy the corresponding citations? I noticed a "White (...)" reference, for example, whose citation wasn't copied. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 10:21, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

You're welcome Kautilya3. That ref is: White, Matthew (2012). The Great Big Book of Horrible Things. New York: W. W. Norton. ISBN 978-0393081923. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) Google Books link. Khestwol (talk) 17:20, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

Matthew White is a "popular history" writer and not a proper historian. The content sourced to him is quite inaccurate. The "early remission of power" happened purely because Congress agreed to Dominion status. Nehru was still thinking of it as an "interim transfer of power", with a "genuine demission" to occur in June 1948. Nobody quite understood at that time what Dominion status meant or not meant. The notion of finality for the 15 August date came later, mostly through the Muslim League refusal to accept Mountbatten as the common Governor General, and the demand for the Defence Forces to be fully divided by 15 August etc. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 18:33, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

But the fact still remains that the Congress and Muslim League, both supported Mountbatten's 3rd June plan and his decision for the NWFP referendum. Both of these parties ignored the views of the Khudai Khidmatgar (who had just won the 1946 elections in alliance with the Congress and were in government in the province), who were strongly opposed to joining Pakistan and were against the division based on religion. Though if a better source(s) and more authentic info can be added, it is perfectly ok. Please feel free to do so. Thanks, Khestwol (talk) 19:13, 3 August 2019 (UTC)

That is a separate question. You can't equate Congress and Muslim League in this regard. Muslim League did not accept the provincial Assembly as being legitimate. So the Assembly wasn't allowed to decide which Dominion to join, unlike in Sindh, Balochistan (and Punjab and Bengal). Mountbatten came up with the referendum idea as a compromise. Congress had no choice but to go along. I will be happy to add content covering this. -- Kautilya3 (talk) 07:53, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

I agree. Yes this content will be useful for the readers. Thanks, Khestwol (talk) 08:06, 4 August 2019 (UTC)

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