14.8.10

Aug 15: Date with destiny

It seems that the reason behind choosing 15th August as India’s Independence Day isn’t all that dramatic. The fateful date in India’s history may have been chosen by Lord Mountbatten on a whim. In the book ‘Freedom at midnight’ written by Larry Collins & Domminique Lapierre, the former Governor General says: “The date I chose came out of the blue. I chose it in reply to a question. I was determined to show I was master of the whole event. When they asked 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 August. Why? Because it was the second anniversary of Japan’s surrender.”

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