Before India and Pakistan became independent nations in 1947, there was one last opportunity for the warring Indian National Congress and the Muslim League to come together. Indeed, though 'independence' only came that year, as of 1946 there was already a native-run government overseeing the country. It was called the Interim Government.

The Viceroy's Executive Council became the cabinet, with the hope being that the Congress and the Muslim League would both be a part of the coalition government while the British started withdrawing from the country. The then-viceroy and governor general of India, Lord Wavell wrote letters to Jawahar Lal Nehru and Ali Jinnah on 22 June, 1946, inviting them to form a cabinet with 14 members, allotting 6 seats to INC, 5 seats to Muslim League and remaining 3 to minority parties. Both Jinnah and Nehru, however, rejected Wavell's plan. Eventually, Wavell would invite Nehru to form the government, with the Muslim League, which wanted to be the sole representative of Muslims, being left out. On August 24, 1946, a communiqué was issued for the Executive Council to go ahead and take charge from 2 September: 69 years ago this week.

The Congress went ahead and nominated Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel, Rajendra Prasad, Sarat Chandra Bose, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari and Jagjivan Ram as the cabinet leaders. Sardar Baldev Singh (Sikh), C.H. Bhabha (Parsee) and Johan Matthai (Indian Christian) filled up the minority seats whereas the three Muslim seats were filled by Asaf Ali, Shafaat Ahmad Khan and Syed Ali Zaheer and the remaining 2 Muslim League seats were left vacant. Though Jinnah protested against the rule of single party government, but after many meetings between Wavell and Jinnah, the Muslim League agreed to join the Interim Government on October 15, 1946. Liaquat Ali Khan, Chundrigar, Ghazanfar, Nishtar and Mandal replaced Congressmen Sarat Chandra Bose, Shafaat Ahmed Khan and Syed Ali Zaheer.

The joining of Muslim League in the Interim Government didn’t ease British government’s problems. Nehru and Jinnah were unable to get along and the interim government, shown here in this archival footage from the Associated Press, would begin the job of setting up the nations until full independence which followed a year later.