gandhi was not involved into this shadow game of partition.the main player were Jinna and Patel. Bothe leaders wanted the max for their respective community, but a compromise and some short of union /federation was not far from feasible . However at critical junction Jinna opted for Direct Action Day and strengthened the hand of hardliner group (Patel) and after that Parttion was enviable.
Just to remind you that Jinnah had no plan for all a separate homeland of all Muslims of Subcontinent. All Romanticism and Poetry of Iqbal aside
The idea of pakistan was the result of of the fear of big muslim landlords and Nawabs of Up and Bengal. they were utter fearful of end of Jamindari ( landlord system) and hence power and prestige. The founder of Muslim League was Nawab of Dhaka( the biggest landlord of India !! ). However these gentlemen (??) were politically naive and in Mr Jinna found a charismatic leader. Mr Jinna also used ML and bogey of Partition to gain maximum concession.
However he overplayed this hand with the demand of 50% reservation for Muslims despite their population being barely 30-35%. Mr Patel understood the long term implication of such demands and decided to get rid of this nuisance for once and all.
The only person capable to preventing partition was Mr Gandhi. But as i stated earlier violence and mayhem by Muslim League weakened his position and allowed the hardliners to gain momentum. Rest as you know all is history. Also Hindu Mahasabha and upto an extent RSS also played pivotal roles in this drama. @
Syed.Ali.Haider @
Irfan Baloch !!