Why was August 15 chosen as the day for India’s independence?

Did you know that the ‘most sacred day’ for Indians for the past 76 years and certainly, for the years to come, was chosen randomly by someone’s subconscious?

The Indian National Flag

“Long years ago we made a tryst with destiny… At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom.” -Jawaharlal Nehru; August 15, 1947

It has been 75 years since these words first found utterance in the very poetic voice of India’s first Prime Minister. The nation has come a long way since and has an even longer way forward. As the nation celebrates ‘Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav’ let us take a moment to know the significance of the date and the story behind how and why was it chosen as the day for India’s Independence.

In 1929, from the banks of river Ravi, when Nehru as the Congress President gave the call for ‘Poorna Swaraj’ or total independence from British colonial rule, January 26 was chosen as Independence Day. In fact, the Congress party continued to celebrate it from 1930 onwards, till India attained independence. January 26th was later chosen as Republic Day – the day India formally adopted its constitution and became a sovereign country.

So how did August 15 become India’s independence day?

Lord Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy, had been given a mandate by the British parliament to transfer the power by June 30, 1948. However, Jinnah’s call for ‘Direct Action’ followed by mass-scale riots and killings throughout the subcontinent made the wait impossible. Given the pretext, if Mountbatten had waited till June 1948, in C Rajagopalachari’s memorable words, “there would have been no power left to transfer”. Thus, after tiring discussions among the Indian leaders and the Viceroy, the date was advanced to August 1947. Interestingly enough, the final date was not yet chosen. Facing the press shortly after, Mountbatten came out with this date out of nowhere, as an answer to an unexpected question.

But why August 15 specifically?

Mountbatten claimed, as quoted in Freedom at Midnight, that “The date I chose came out of the blue. I chose it in reply to a question. I was determined to show I was the master of the whole event. When they asked if had we set a date, I knew it had to be soon. I hadn’t worked it out exactly then — I thought it had to be about August or September and I then went out to the 15th of August. Why? Because it was the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender.”

Before coming to India, Mountbatten fought and won World War II as a naval commander of the Allied Forces. His campaign came to an ultimate end on August 15, 1945, when Japanese Emperor Hirohito gave a recorded radio address, which later came to be known as the Jewel Voice Broadcast announcing the surrender of Japan to the Allies. Mountbatten remembered hearing the news of the Japanese surrender that day sitting in Churchill’s room. Moreover, Mountbatten himself, as the Supreme Allied Commander of South East Asia Command signed the formal Japanese surrender of Singapore on September 4, 1945.

As evident by now, August 15 was an important day for Mountbatten- it was a day of victory. Hence, it naturally occurred to him at that moment at the press conference. And that’s it. The day had no significance for Indians. But that mattered the least. British came to India on a day they chose, and left on a day they decided.