London, 10 Downing Street, May 15th, 1949
This was not supposed to be a negotiation.
It was supposed to be an intervention. One last desperate attempt to talk some sense into Arjun before everything went to hell.
Inside Number 10, Prime Minister Clement Attlee sat rigid in his chair, looking like a man bracing for impact.
Ernest Bevin stood by the window, hands clasped behind his back, staring out at the miserable grey sky like it personally offended him. Chancellor Stafford Cripps hovered nearby, his usual stack of papers conspicuously absent.
Whatever was about to happen, numbers were not going to fix it.
The door opened.
Arjun walked in with Krishna Menon at his side. He greeted them with polite nods, a courtesy that carried absolutely no warmth, and calmly took his seat across from Attlee.
"Prime Minister Mehra," Attlee began, trying to sound steady and mostly succeeding. "We called this meeting because your announcement at the Conference has caused serious concern. Not just here, but across the entire Commonwealth. People are worried."
Arjun nodded once. "I expected they would be."
Attlee leaned forward, putting on his best reasonable statesman face. "You know, India's withdrawal does not have to be permanent. The Conference exposed problems with how things work, I will admit that.
But Britain is ready to fix them. Structural reform, more equality in decision making, proper recognition of India's importance. We can make this work if you are willing."
Bevin turned from the window, his expression carefully controlled. "We know the world is changing, Prime Minister. The Commonwealth has to change with it. India can help lead that change from inside, not outside."
Arjun sat there for a moment, his face looking like he was having serious thoughts regarding whatever proposal Bevin was making. Then he spoke, and his voice was polite but firm.
"Prime Minister Attlee, India did not leave because of procedures or hurt feelings. We left because the entire system no longer matches reality."
Attlee's frown deepened. "Systems can be reformed, Prime Minister Mehra."
"Indeed. But not when the foundation itself is flawed," Arjun replied smoothly.
"India's population, economy, and our strategic position, all of it has outgrown what the Commonwealth was designed for. Patching it up with reforms would just delay the inevitable."
Cripps tried a different angle. "Would you at least consider some kind of transitional period? Give everyone time to adjust?"
Arjun shook his head. "India has already transitioned. Staying would mean pretending we have not."
Bevin's patience was clearly wearing thin. "You understand what signal this sends, right? To markets, Washington, and to every other Commonwealth member thinking about following your lead?"
"Of course," Arjun said, nodding as he did. "Me and my fellow colleagues had already took that into consideration while this decision was made. It's a possibility...that we're willing to carry even if it end up as a burden to us."
The silence that followed felt like a funeral. Attlee's face fell slightly as the reality sank in. This meeting was not going to end with India coming back. No. It was not even going to end with maybe.
"Very well," Attlee said quietly, sounding tired, which honestly, he was. "If your decision is final, then we need to discuss what comes next."
Arjun inclined his head. "I agree."
He folded his hands on the table, and suddenly the meeting shifted. Politics were done. Now came the messy practical bits.
"India leaving the Commonwealth removes certain assumptions, especially financial ones. We need to resolve outstanding issues quickly and quietly before things get complicated."
Cripps sat up straighter, his instincts kicking in. He knew what was coming.
"First," Arjun said. "India needs its gold reserves back. The ones currently sitting in the Bank of England."
Cripps looked up sharply. "All of it?"
"All of it. Two hundred seventy five tons."
Bevin's jaw clenched so hard it was visible from across the room. "That would cause serious problems for sterling stability."
"Which is why we have a plan," Arjun said smoothly. "One third transferred by the end of this month. The rest by the end of June."
He paused, letting that sink in.
"The SS Jalausha will handle transport, all under commercial cover. No announcements, no press releases, nothing that spooks the markets. Insurance and custody go through normal institutional channels."
Attlee let out a slow breath. This was not a proposal. This was a done deal that Arjun was politely informing them about.
"Our goal," Arjun continued, "is not to wreck sterling. It is to get India out from under decisions we no longer have any say in."
Nobody argued because what was there to argue? It made perfect sense.
"And then there is the sterling balance," Arjun said. "About 225 million pounds still outstanding. I propose that we use it as investments rather than physical cash."
The temperature in the room dropped like someone had opened a window in winter. Attlee sat up straighter, his whole demeanor changing from resigned to defensive.
"Prime Minister Mehra," Attlee said, his voice taking on a harder edge. "Before we go any further, we need to be absolutely clear about something. India leaving the Commonwealth does not mean we renegotiate everything that was already settled two years ago."
Arjun tilted his head slightly but stayed quiet.
"The sterling balances are not up for discussion," Attlee continued, getting more forceful. "Their status was agreed with late Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in exhaustive detail before 1947.
It was reaffirmed multiple times after. The whole point was to avoid exactly this kind of uncertainty."
Cripps jumped in, his voice much firmer now. "We were crystal clear then, and we are crystal clear now. Britain will not convert sterling balances into equity or ownership stakes in British companies. Not for India, not for anyone. That is a red line."
Bevin turned from the window, and his expression had gone from irritated to absolutely inflexible.
"This is not something we are negotiating," he said flatly. "This is British policy. Non-negotiable."
There was no anger in his voice, just the kind of finality that made further argument pointless.
Cripps added, "The only exception we ever made was the machinery settlement that you had proposed a year ago. And that was an exception, not the new normal."
He glanced at Attlee briefly.
"That exception required consultation with Washington of course. And since it was justified on Cold War grounds, given India's role as a stabilizing non-communist power in Asia, it was approved. Even with that justification, we caught hell for it internally."
Attlee nodded, looking grim. "Half the Treasury wanted our heads. They argued we were violating everything Keynes stood for, that we were gutting Britain's industrial future to pay off imperial debts."
Bevin's voice got harder. "We took that heat because the geopolitical argument was solid at the time. But we are not doing it again. We are not expanding it. And we sure as hell are not letting it turn into a backdoor for foreign control of British industry."
He stared directly at Arjun.
"This discussion is over before it starts."
The silence was thick enough to cut.
Arjun sat there looking perfectly composed, but inside his head things were clicking into place. He had finally figured out what had been nagging at him for months.
Britain agreeing to the machinery swap had never quite made sense. Yes, they wanted the debt gone. But they also had Keynesian economic policies that should have made the whole thing very tricky. The Treasury should have fought it hard.
But they had not fought it. Because the Americans had convinced them not to.
Washington had pushed London to accept the deal, framed it as Cold War strategy, as keeping India stable and non-aligned. That was the only reason it had worked.
Which meant if he had not gotten the US on board first, if he had not sold them on the communist containment angle and the cheap manufacturing partnership, none of it would have succeeded.
Britain's desperation alone would never have been enough to override their economic doctrine.
The Americans had been the key all along.
Just as the three British ministers were exchanging glances, clearly bracing for Arjun to push back or demand more, he spoke.
"I appreciate you being direct about this. If those are the boundaries, then we will continue settling the remaining debt as currently agreed."
Attlee blinked, visibly caught off guard by the lack of argument. It wasn't just him, Menon was caught off guard as well.
He nodded slowly, still processing. "Right. Well. Good. His Majesty's Government will authorize the gold repatriation then. One third by end of May, remainder by end of June. You will handle the transport logistics on your end, because frankly we are going to have our hands full just managing the paperwork and internal procedures."
Arjun stood up, and Menon followed his lead.
"I regret," Arjun said, his tone even and professional, "that this meeting could not change our decision. But at least we have made sure the separation does not turn into a complete disaster."
As he and Menon walked out, the three British ministers stayed in their chairs, each one probably wondering how the hell they were going to explain this to Parliament.
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[A/N: Still alive. Tho don't hope for continuous chapter releases. I'll just drop them when I write them. Similar to this ones. Thanks to the political stuff which give me that 15 minute motivation to write additional chapters.
Also thanks to those are still giving the power stones even though the novel is in hiatus for so long.
And finally, like earlier, 3 additional chapters on Patreon, but unless you're really itching for it, you should probably wait for the next time I'll drop the chapter rather than wasting those $2.]