This is a telegram from Jawaharlal Nehru, leader of the Indian National Congress, to Lord Archibald Wavell, who was the Viceroy of India from June 1943 to March 1947. In the telegram, sent on 9 March 1947, Nehru expresses his concerns over recent communal violence between Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs in the Punjab region. He highlights how Sardar Baldev Singh, an Indian Sikh political leader, was also distressed by this violence, and comments that many Hindus shared Singh’s concerns. 

While he was against any attempt to establish a Muslim League government in the Punjab, Nehru conceded that dividing the region into predominantly Muslim and non-Muslim areas would be ‘a proper and fair solution’. After much discussion, British officials and Indian political leaders agreed that creating Pakistan was the only way to stop communal violence and avoid a full-scale civil war. They did not anticipate the brutality that Partition would provoke.

This telegram is part of the Viceroy’s Private Office Collection, which contains documents from 1942 to 1948 relevant to political and constitutional affairs, specifically regarding the transfer of power from the British to Indian officials. These papers are part of the India Office Records.

About the India Office Records

The India Office Records is a vast collection of archives relating to the administration of the East India Company (1600–1858) and its successor the India Office (1858–1947). The collection includes hundreds of official publications and records, manuscripts, photographs, maps and private papers. These archives document the complex story of British trade with the East, politics, the development of the British Empire and the road to Indian independence.