"The King Emperor" "Ram." "(cheers and applause)" "To the people of India..." "...whose representatives we are... and join us in this great adventure" "They don't want speeches." "It's like New Years Eve in Piccadilly Circus out there and it could never have happened if it wasn't for you." "The birth of India." "And the death of the British Empire." "Well grandmother Victoria would never have believed it possible." "congratulations." "I had a call from London." "I've been raised to the rank of Earl." "You are now Countess Mountbatten of Burma." "you deserve it." "but not only me." "Well done." "Your Ex." "They'll be here in a minute." "sir." "All signs of the Raj have now been removed." "you'd better remind everyone that this is not to be called Viceroy's House but Government House." "Everybody like to come in now." "if possible ... plenty of room." "Round this side." "Leave the doorway clear please." "Keep clear." "Mr Prasad ..." "Mr Nehru." "Welcome to Government House" "I'd forgotten we'd agreed the press could be here." "Lord Mountbatten we come here for a unique occasion." "For a unique reason." "Let us ..." "let us gratefully acknowledge the consummation of the historic tradition and the democratic ideals of the British race." "Mr Prasad." "Independent list." "Yes." "Three quarters of an hour ago the independence of India was proclaimed." "the assembly unanimously endorsed to be first Governor General." "and will do my best to carry out your advice in a constitutional manner." "May I submit to you the portfolios of the new cabinet." "I think you might get rather a good one." "I'm sorry." "I've nothing more suitable and I feel I would like to propose a toast." "To India." "I too would like to propose a toast." "King George the Sixth." "(Prasad) To His Majesty." "(Mountbatten) His Majesty." "This way please." "There is no more." "Thank you One more please." "He actually proposed a toast to the king. and he can still make a gesture like that." "an amazing man." "Yes." "Try to get some sleep my dear." "It's going to be another long day tomorrow." "What's in there?" "Oh!" "The list of the new cabinet ministers." "It's empty!" "but in all the excitement he forgot to put in the list." "No food." "I will observe ..." "as a day of mourning. and it is not a time to rejoice." "It is a time to pray." "thy children in their need and sorrow" "A great evil is about to fall on our land. aside from it." "000." "This is closer to a million." "We'll have to cancel the rest of the parade." "Troops would never get through here." "come along." "I can't get across." "they won't mind." "will you." "please." "Please clear the way." "(Patel) Make way for the Governor General." "Let him through." "It's hopeless." "We'll never reach the platform." "Clear a space." "It's no use." "What a mess!" "We'll never make it." "Just hoist the flag." "Never mind the ceremony." "Hoist the flag." "Just get on with it." "Raise the flag." "clear the way." "No!" "No!" "Clear the way!" "Clear the way!" "What is that on your head?" "Clear the way!" "I say!" "." "Clear the way!" "We decided to cancel the parade." "You'd better move on." "help to ward off some of the crowd." "Excuse me ..." "let us pass." "(screams) Stop!" "Stop!" "... open the door." "Can you get the baby." "Come up here." "Go!" "Jai Hind!" "Jai Hind!" "you and I have done a great thing. likely to erupt at any moment." "Mr Suhrawardy." "is made up of human beings." "Human beings!" "These people are all fanatics." "You can't reason with them." "most of the police force was Muslim." "Now half of them have fled to Pakistan." "Mr Gandhi." "that exactly one year ago today who started the violence by ordering your people to support Jinnah's day of direct action." "It was ..." "a political move." "Thousands died because of it." "You unleashed a monster you cannot get it back in its cage." "How can we?" "We don't even have British troops anymore to keep the peace." "God forbid!" "If we cannot keep order in our own house we do not deserve independence." "the one thing stopping a bloodbath living in a Muslim quarter." "But how long can you stay here?" "As long as I am needed." "Do you guarantee that?" "to stay at my side and work with me." "But of course." "I'll back you all the way." "Mr Suhrawardy." "at my side." "We will live here together to protect us." "If the Hindu's find that I'm here unprotected they will tear me to pieces." "That is what you risk." "or we lose Calcutta. in Calcutta." "I and of the Muslim League" "But he's a murderer!" "I have given him my word that he will not be harmed." "But why do you protect him?" "that Mahatmaji is here to teach us to be brothers." "You talk of brotherhood!" "didn't you?" "You were responsible ?" "Answer the question!" "Yes!" "I was responsible." "This is a time ... and to build for the future." "Do you want to lead your children into tomorrow and your heart filled with love?" "If Calcutta can return to reason and brotherhood it will be a guiding light to show how all India can be saved." "Here we are gentlemen." "Identical copies of the map showing the new boundaries between India and Pakistan." "to study them separately and we shall meet again in the council chamber in two hours time." "Partition!" "Was it inevitable Pug?" "Was there really nothing else we could have done." "Absolutely nothing." "India was a ship in mid-ocean with her decks on fire and ammunition in the hold." "We had to put out the fire before it reached the ammunition." "You had no option." "I think it would be a good idea if Auchinleck attended the meeting." "You have Calcutta!" "You have Calcutta!" "And you have Chittagong and Sylhet." "Do they make up for Calcutta?" "Gentlemen please!" "not at one another." "I asked for reasoned comments." "when we are faced... and need time to absorb them?" "I never expected it would create an East Pakistan that is unable to survive." "We have the areas that produce the raw materials. is in West Bengal." "We have the factories and mills but none of the raw materials." "What are your feelings Mr Singh?" "What can I say for the Sikhs?" "Wherever the line was drawn in the Punjab we have always known we would be the ones to suffer the most." "It cuts through our heartland." "It cuts our irrigation canals from their source of water" "It leaves five million of our people in Pakistan and five in India." "What can I say?" "Sir Cyril Radcliffe ..." "was very aware of the distress he has refused any payment for the work he has done." "but an honourable one." "The panic in the border areas is going to get worse." "And people who thought they were safe in India will find themselves in Pakistan." "who rejoiced at the creation of Pakistan will find themselves trapped in India." "Did you say trapped?" "Yes trapped." "Trapped for a generation." "trapped." "Sit down." "please." "I think we should have a situation report on the border areas from Field Marshall Auchinleck." "We are in the process of dividing the Indian army between your two countries." "You made me Supreme Commander to oversee that division with no operational responsibility." "and the joint defence council deal with disturbances on both sides of the border." "But what is the situation?" "There is scarcely a village for 50 miles on either side that is not on fire. clashing with as many Sikhs and Hindus moving east." "Amritsar is now in flames." "Ten percent of Lahore has been destroyed." "the Muslim population have been massacred." "Gujranwala ... the Muslims have wiped out the Sikhs." "Shall I go on?" "It is civil war." "Worse than that  it's an upheaval of nature." "grandfather." "I want you to be with us." "we will be killed." "Look!" "... everyone else has gone to try to get to Pakistan." "May Allah protect you." "?" "Of course you must protect yourselves." "But there is a world of difference between that and killing your neighbours and their families." "The sword is not the answer. regardless of their religion." "And it will do so to the full limit of the law. but we can all overcome them much sooner if we agree to work together in peace." "Very Well." "Since civilised arguments don't reach you ... listen to this." "I know you are planning to attack the Muslims in their villages. and I will personally give my guards orders to shoot every one of you." "We should have known they'd come here." "What are you doing?" "Don't you know who lives here?" "It's Suhrawardy!" "Are you mad?" "This is the house of Gandhiji." "We don't care whose house it is." "We want the men who came in here." "We want the men?" "What men do you want?" "then ran away in the dark." "do you think" "I would hand them over to you?" "my children." "Don't listen to him." "Look at him ..." "... Muhammad Gandhi." "Why don't you go to the Punjab and save Hindus." "Please!" "Just stop the ?" "They were extremists Gandhiji." "R.S.S.S. Hindu extremists." "Welcome back Your Excellency." "Thank you Vernon." "H.E. in his study?" "I believe so." "I heard Mr Nehru's appeal on the radio last night." "worse even than we feared. and 4 to 5 Millions on the move." "Millions?" "large scale rioting has broken out in Calcutta." "Despite Gandhi?" "what they've been calling the miracle of Calcutta but it didn't last." "You're thinking of going to Amritsar yourself." "We desperately need an up-to-the-minute report on the future needs." "But where you're proposing to go is the very heart of the violence." "are you?" "... that's a word we've never used between us." "and you know the dangers." "I'll give you what protection I can." "Not too much Dickie." "If I'm surrounded by armed guards I shall not find out anything." "Will you go over into Pakistan?" "I shall only be doing half the job if I don't." "It may be even harder for you to get at the facts you need there." "I shall have a certain amount of cooperation as wife of the Governor General." "And Rajkumari is Minister of Health." "I'm pretty sure she'll come with me." "That might not be much use to you when you cross the border." "Well ... we'll just have to see ... won't we?" "And what are you highly decorated gentlemen going to do about it all?" "I beg your pardon?" "I've seen Japanese concentration camps that offered better conditions than this." "Some provision must be made for sanitation and drinking water." "And the food supplies which have been sent ought to be handed out." "they will be distributed." "But these people are starving." "They are refugees." "they must be prepared to put with a little hardship until it can be arranged." "Do you know who you are talking to?" "Rajkumari Amrit Kaur is Minister of Health in the Indian Government." "of the joint defence council." "Of course I know." "I was asked to show you round." "Then you will also know who I am. and adequate arrangements made to provide water." "Unless the food is here within two hours in Karachi and demand to have you arrested for corruption and deliberate obstruction." "Do I make myself clear?" "Your Excellency." "Come with me." "Driver ... move!" "Could you really have got Mr Jinnah to do that?" "but the major certainly believed it." "Arrogant!" "A fast to death." "He said:" "or I will be dead" "But Gandhi's in no condition to put his body through that." "neither could I." "It is the Mahatma's ultimate weapon when all else has failed. but these are totally different circumstances." "He knows the risks better than any of us." "Like hell he does! and now he risks ruining everything. and the whole lot will blow up in our faces." "Remember us?" "Do you recognise me?" "You are ..." "... the children   who attacked this house ..." "... four nights ago." "Is that when ..." "... you started this fast?" "The very next night." "You shouldn't have done it ... it was stupid." "Is he going to die?" "Nothing is more certain." "If it goes on for another day ... he will be dead." "We didn't want that." "We didn't want that." "Gandhiji" "Look!" "Look!" "Gandhiji   please forgive us." "What can we do?" "Forgive us ... please!" "I ... forgive you   on one condition." "Your only punishment ... from me ... will be ... to go ... to the streets ..." "... of the Muslims ... and help ... to protect them." "We accept." "We'll do it." "Only ... don't die." "Please ... don't die." "The column." "God be praised." "Come." "Excuse me." "I shall need this apron." "Thank you." "press." "That's it ... burp." "yes?" "You'd better take this." "¿Hindi?" "Bapu." "Rajaji Muslims. to prevent it." "Bapu." "Bapu?" "You've won!" "..." "You've won." "It's good ..." "... to be ... alive" "Namaste" "Edwina" "It's a relief to see you back safely." "I was worried about you." "Why should you be worried about me?" "It was an official tour of inspection." "I couldn't come to any harm." "but you had stepped into a madhouse where the ordinary rules do not apply." "The worst that happened was that I nearly got sunstroke." "Have you heard the news?" "The wonderful news." "The real miracle of Calcutta." "your poet Kipling called it." "Now it has become a place of hope for all of us." "Because of Gandhiji?" "and it will last." "he said." "I was ... after all we saw and heard in Punjab." "It's horrible!" "We can only hope and pray that the worst is over." "The reports you sent back shocked everyone." "much more help is being given and to the refugees." "But it's never enough ..." "... and always too late. but it is all we can do at the moment." "And you have done all you can do." "you listen ..." "listen." "You've been driving yourself too hard." "For everyone's sake ..." "... for my sake   you must rest." "How can I?" "How?" "How?" "Edwina ..." "She's sleeping now." "Thank you for bringing her back." "Edwina is not as strong as she appears to be." "She has seen so much suffering in these past few months." "Oh ... what has gone so drastically wrong?" "Why won't the people trust us?" "Why is there so much hatred and violence?" "Is it my fault." "Did I go too fast." "Perhaps it is the price we have to pay for freedom." "It is certainly the price we have to pay for partition." "But then ..." "... we all accepted that." "Only we never imagined it would be so high. but I think you could do with a rest yourself." "Too much to do." "Tomorrow I have to fly to Lahore to chair a meeting of the joint defence council." "Then why don't you take Edwina with you?" "Depending on what is decided at the meeting you could stop off in Simla for a week or two." "Are you trying to get rid of me?" "I urge you to consider it." "and there is nothing we cannot deal with by telephone or by messenger." "think about it." "What the devil ..." "Mr Jinnah." "Welcome to Lahore ..." "... Excellency." "This is an unexpected pleasure." "I'm glad to see you well." "Are you?" "I'm sure you know everyone here." "commander of the Punjab boundary force?" "sir." "We ..." "I'm sorry." "We should talk please." "I look forward to it but the Defence Council meeting starts in a few minutes." "It will wait for us." "gentlemen." "We'll wait in the council chamber." "sir." "You wanted to talk." "Was there anything in particular?" "Something must be done about the ... attitude of the present Indian government to Pakistan." "their lack of communication is nothing less than a crude attempt to interfere in the efficient running of my country." "I'm sure there's been no deliberate interference." "the share of assets we agreed before partition or is delivered in such small quantities that I cannot plan ahead." "You must order them to fulfill their obligations." "I cannot order." "You are Governor General of India." "that is what you made me ... by refusing to accept a joint Governor General." "and that is how you must deal with me." "I do not possess the special powers you gave yourself." "My position is strictly constitutional." "I can only advise." "So be it." "Let us discuss something for which you cannot deny a certain responsibility." "Joint defence." "Very well." "I insist on the immediate disbanding of the Punjabi boundary force." "conduct ... and impartiality. has been impeccable." "we must agree to differ." "Field Marshall Auchinleck has said he will resign if it is split into communal forces." "I shall be sorry to lose him" "Mr Jinnah ..." "I must ask you to reconsider." "the violence could increase and the refugees will be left with no protection. at least on my side of the border." "I accept your decision." "The boundary force will be disbanded." "You accept?" "Since I've heard many of the same complaints and accusations from the Indian side." "Without the total cooperation of both governments it simply cannot do the job it was set up to do." "Lord Louis." "anyway." "I'm grateful to you." "you see ... was my last executive responsibility." "Pandit Nehru will be pleased." "Why him?" "not to have me always looking over his shoulder." "I'll no longer be directly involved in the affairs of the Indian government." "And ... what are you going to do? and Mr Jinnah that is exactly what I am going to do." "Pandit Nehru!" "Hey Pandit ..." "Jawaharlal." "We've brought you a present." "What is all this?" "don't you?" "Stop!" "(screams)" "(laughter)"