When Jawaharlal Nehru became angry, Mountbatten's eyes went to Sardar Patel, but by now Mountbatten had understood that Patel would prove to be more rigid than Nehru in this matter. Therefore, Mountbatten asked VP Menon, his political advisor and secretary of the princely department of Sardar Patel, playing a dual role in the Government of India, to prepare a second plan.
Where in the staff of Lord Mountbatten were the great officers of the Indian Civil Service, whose chests lit up with the great degrees of the Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and whose wisdom rang all over England and who spent most of their lives in India. Rejecting all of them, Mountbatten called a man who was one of the twelve members of a very simple Indian family to make a revised plan for the partition of India.
Leaving his school, home and village at the age of only 13, he had been laboring and laboring on the streets of Delhi for years and had been feeding coal in railway locomotives and who operated an English typewriter with only two fingers. Its name was VP Menon. In those days the nexus of minds of Patel and Menon was considered very dangerous.
Mountbatten did not even guess that Mountbatten and Jahwaharlal themselves did not have more status than the pawns on the chess board on which Mountbatten and Jawaharlal Nehru were advancing their pieces. The real game was to be played by VP Menon and Sardar Patel. Chaucer also belonged to Menon and Patel and so did the pawns. Patel and Menon had a plan in mind long back. Now the time has come for Menon to get it down on paper.
After talking to Jawaharlal Nehru, Mountbatten called VP Menon and asked him to make a plan at the same time. Mountbatten took care that Menon should not be allowed to meet Patel because if Menon met Patel before planning, Jahwarlal would suspect that Patel had prepared a new partition plan.
Jawaharlal did not at all want Patel to get the credit for making this plan. VP Menon sat down with a typewriter at the Viceroy's residence at the same time and in four hours with the help of a typewriter he drew down a plan on paper. Menon seemed to have prepared it, but in reality the blueprint of the plan was already conveyed to V.P. Menon by Patel.
Sitting on the porch of the office, enjoying the panoramic view of the Himalayas, working hard for six hours between lunch and dinner, a man who worked hard to mold Indian independence earned the distinction of having completed his government job. Started typing with two fingers. On the basis of the draft he prepared again, the Indian subcontinent was to be reorganized and the map of the world was also going to change.
It was proposed in this plan that the Hindu-majority population would remain in India. Areas with Muslim-majority populations will go to Pakistan. Every British province must necessarily merge into India or Pakistan. Punjab and Bengal will be divided on the basis of population. The native princely states will be able to merge in India or Pakistan of their own free will or they can remain independent as a separate country. Nehru accepted this plan as soon as he saw it.
Mountbatten knew that Jinnah would not easily accept this plan as his demand was for the whole of Punjab and the whole of Bengal. Along with this, Baluchistan, Sindh and Khyber-Pakhtun belonged to Jinnah on the basis of religion. Nevertheless, Mountbatten sent this plan for the partition of Punjab and Bengal to London with his assistant Lord Ismay for approval.
Fear from Jinnah
Leonard Moseley wrote - ' Mountbatten became apprehensive of Jinnah after the plan was sent to London for approval. He felt that Jinnah would oppose the truncated Pakistan. So he spoke to Jinnah and, convinced of him, sent a telegram to Ismay in London that I am sure Jinnah would accept it. Although I know Jinnah is very clever and bargaining, he can also mislead me. Mountbatten was not satisfied even with this. He also prepared an emergency plan to deal with Jinnah, what would be done if Jinnah turned back on time. The main provision in this emergency plan was that since Jinnah has rejected the plan, the power is being handed over to the present government itself.'