Page "Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma" Paragraph 23

Among the Indian leaders, Gandhi emphatically insisted on maintaining a united India and for a while successfully rallied people to this goal.

However, when Mountbatten's timeline offered the prospect of attaining independence soon, sentiments took a different turn.

Given Mountbatten's determination, Nehru and Patel's inability to deal with the Muslim League and lastly Jinnah's obstinacy, all Indian party leaders ( except Gandhi ) acquiesced to Jinnah's plan to divide India, which in turn eased Mountbatten's task.