THE END OF BRITISH RULE IN INDIA from S. R Mookherjee to M. D. Seth, Copy of November 23,1942. IOR R/ 3/2/41. S. P. Mookherjee, Leaves from a Diary (Calcutta, 1993), pp.106. J.A.R., July-December,1942, Vol II, pp.33. Letter from Wavell to Amery, October 3,1944. Transfer of Power, (hereafter TOP) September, 1944 to July 1945, (London, 1974.) pp.73. T.O.P., Extract from letter of Sir Hugh Dow, Governor of Sind, October 6, 1944. pp. 91. S. P. Mookherjee, Leaves from a Diary (Calcutta, 1993), pp.29 Private and Secret letter from Marshal Viscount Wavell to Amery, July 1, 1945. TOP, Vol VI, pp.1182; Also see IOR L/PO/10/22. B.P.P.A.I., (Secret), Vol LVIII, No 7 Report of July 14, 1945, para 635. The reactions of the Mahasabha and the League along with the Sikhs against the Gandhi-Jinnah talks were reported to have been strongly critical. See, Confidential M.O. 12 M.I. 2 (a), August 31,1944. WO 208/761 'Internal Situation in India from 1939-1946. Public Record Office, Kew, Surrey (hereafter P.R.O.). Various factors like the Party's exclusion in the negotiations held at Simla, the accession of Bhopatkar (Savarkarian faction) as the party President were repsonsible for a shift in Mookherjee's political loyalties. B.P.P.A.I., Report of February 16, 1946. para 157. Low mentions how since 1939, a considerable number of senior colonial authorities knew that 'for all practical, political and /or moral reasons, their days were numbered.' On the other hand, Low also points out the determination, especially on the part of the ruling Conservative party to hold on to power which finally only increased and embittered the political relationship between the British Government and the Indian political parties. See D. A. Low, Rearguard Action: Selected Essays on Late Colonial Indian Politics (Delhi, 1996), pp.192. For a detailed analysis of the decline of British Authority in Colonial Western India after the Quit India movement, See Simon Epstein, 'District officers in Decline: The Erosion of British Authority in the Bombay Countryside, 1919 to 1947', Modern Asian Studies, 16, 3 (1982), pp. 493-518. Top Secret Report on the All India Hindu Mahasabha. IOR L/WS/1/746. B.P.P.A.I., (Secret) February 1940 Vol LIII, No 7. Report of April 6 and 13, 1940. Paras 363 St 390. Roger Finney Papers, Centre of South Asian Studies, Cambridge. The RSS, Hindu Mahasabha, Akali Dal, Khaksars, Sainik Dal, Muslim National Guards, Ahrars had formed volunteer armies spread their network in different provinces and number of volunteers of each figured in thousands or more. P. R. O. WO 216/468. For Auchinleck's views, see note to Sir David Monteath, 1946, L/WS/1/ 1008. July 3, 1947 was observed as anti-Pakistan day by the Mahsabhaites. In Bombay city, the day had some success and it was particularly sucessful in middle class Maharashtrian localities. Black flags were displayed on a large scale and a photograph of Jinnah was exhibited with a garlands of chappals around it. Meetings were also held at which Mhasabhaites condemned the partition of India. Chief Secretary's Report of July 18,1947. IORL/P&J/5/167.