In this interview with Charles Allen recorded sometime between 1975 and 1976, Raj Chatterjee discusses his personal feelings about the transfer of power from the British government to Indian and Pakistani officials. Chatterjee had been educated in England and was one of the first Indian men appointed as manager of the Imperial Tobacco Company. He later became a writer for several Indian newspapers, including the Hindustan Times, and several of his short stories were broadcast by the BBC World Service. 

In this interview Chatterjee tells Allen that although he felt happy about independence, this was tainted by the widespread violence and mass forced migration that occurred because of Partition. In his opinion, the transfer of power came too early in August 1947. Chatterjee believes that the British government should have stayed on in some capacity to ensure a smooth transition, arguing that Lord Louis Mountbatten, the last Viceroy of India, should have taken a firmer hand. 

British in India Oral Archive

These interviews were carried out between 1975 and 1976 to supplement the BBC's popular Plain Tales of the Raj radio series. The project was jointly conducted by the National Sound Archive (NSA), the India Office Library & Records (IOLR) and the School of Oriental and African Studies. The NSA and the IOLR became part of the British Library in the early 1980s and are now known as the British Library Sound Archive and the India Office Records respectively. The collection includes interviews conducted in the UK, India and Pakistan with a wide range of people, including Lord Mountbatten, B K Nehru and British civil servants. The interviews cover the role of the Viceroy, the royal family, missionary work, the police force, the Indian Civil Service in Burma, trade and shipping in Calcutta (now Kolkata), the Japanese invasion during the Second World War and the Nehru family. The interviews were conducted almost exclusively with those who had roles in the administration of the British government in India, and this is reflected in their content. The full recordings from the British in India Oral Archive are archived at the British Library Sound Archive, with collection reference C5.

CHARLES ALLEN:

What did you feel about the handover of power in 1947? Did you feel that it was inevitable? Did you feel that it had been rushed? Did you feel that it was high time? What were your feelings about it, personal feelings?

RAJ CHATTERJEE:

My personal feelings were that it came a bit too early. And in not the kind of way that I had hoped it would come, I mean I’m talking about, referring to Partition. There was far too much violence about it. And I felt also that the British had let us down at that time. They should have stayed on and seen that there would be a smooth changeover. Instead of that they let us get at each other’s throats and stood by and did nothing. Well I mean, I can’t, in one way I can’t blame them because they said, you got what you wanted, now it’s up to you. But I think the British realised that this would happen and Mountbatten for example should have taken a much firmer hand. That was the disappointing part of it, all the bloodshed that took place, the homes that were uprooted, and the feelings of elation that we might have had were somewhat tarnished by this thought that the change had meant so much misery for the country.