The Problem of Sources and Proved Knowledge in History: Operation “Legacy” and Transfer of Power in India

Abstract

Great Britain implemented a model of transfer of power in India by granting independence to the country while preserving its place in the Commonwealth of Nations. The key element was handing over governance by Imperial authorities to local forces by legal means. The transfer of power led to the building of nation-states in former British India. The completion of the process marked a new stage for contemporary India and enabled Indian political institutions to operate on the basis of the British Empire’s legacy since that time. Therefore, the legacy’s values were important features of the power transfer. However, the Imperial legacy had material representation in numerous official documents kept in colonial offices. Some documents being witnesses of the British governance were eliminated by Britain’s ‘Operation Legacy.’ During the Operation, some of the official papers were incinerated, while others retained under the title of ‘legacy papers’. A connection between the transfer of power and Operation Legacy has not been explored to date, but one may exist. Some questions are: could the two processes, one of which had finished in 1947 and the other had commenced, supposedly, in 1947, be interconnected? Could the transfer of power have influenced Operation Legacy, and could Operation Legacy, in turn, have become a part of other colonial power transfers by Britain after Indian independence? The article aims to investigate how Britain’s experience in India influenced its developing Operation Legacy in other colonies and whether it later changed the practices of transfer of power. The author discusses why the first indications of a well-organized Operation Legacy emerged in Ceylon in late 1947, when Ceylon sought independence. This became known as the result of the internal inquiry by the Foreign Office, also known as the Cary Report.