Jawaharlal Nehru: Speeches on the Granting of Indian Independence

Audience

The audience of “Tryst with Destiny” included members of the Constituent Assembly and the interim government. The Constituent Assembly had come into being as part of the Cabinet Mission Plan. The Cabinet Mission Plan was crafted by the Labour Party once Britain had decided to leave Indian soil. The plan conceived of three different group constituencies within India—section A with Madras, Bombay, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Orissa, and Central Provinces (Madhya Pradesh); section B with Punjab, the North-West Frontier Province, and Sind; and section C with Bengal and Assam—with one controlling center handling foreign affairs, defense, and communications. This controlling center, the Constituent Assembly, consisted of members elected from the provincial Legislative Assemblies. Most of the general seats had been won by the INC, and a majority of the Muslim seats had been won by the Muslim League in these elections. The Constituent Assembly formed the interim government before Indian independence, headed by the viceroy. On June 3, 1947, the newly elected viceroy announced the plan for India's independence. The Constituent Assembly in turn became the first parliament of independent India.

“The Appointed Day” was a message to the press on the day of Indian independence, August 15, 1947. This companion speech was addressed to the political leaders of the Constituent Assembly and to the people of India. The message was also intended for the people of Pakistan, East as well as West, the separate nation that had been carved out by the leadership of the Muslim League. The speech served as a vision of unity among the different newly independent nations, and the concluding part of the speech foreshadows the politics of the nonaligned movement, one of the major strategic decisions of Nehru.