On this day, 79 years ago, on August 24, 1946 (July 28, 1946 in the lunar calendar), Nehru became the head of the Indian interim government. Nehru and Gandhi in Mumbai On August 24, 1946, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was appointed by the British Governor in India, Count Wavell, as Deputy Speaker of the Executive Council of India. Previously, he had been arrested and imprisoned nine times for advocating non-violent resistance to British rule. The parliament's 12 seats will include representatives of Hindus, Islam, Sikh, Hindu Zoroastrians and Christianity. These representatives will form a sovereign government unless Wavell exercises his veto power. The independent Congress Party convened a meeting to approve the seats. Nehru has served as chairman of the party four times since the Congress Party proposed its goal of independence from British rule in 1929. However, the Islamic League rejected the five seats allocated to it. The alliance's chairman Mohammad Ali Jinnah expressed concern about the powerful Hindu forces holding a majority of parliamentary seats and strongly advocated dividing India into two countries: Islamic and Hindu countries. Gandhi, a long-time leader of the nonviolent resistance movement, believed that this would undermine India's strength as a whole country. In early August, clashes between Hindus and Islamists resumed, leading to the worst riots in Kolkata's history. One of the main goals of the interim government is to convene a Constituent Convention. The meeting will be held soon, possibly in September. But many observers fear that drafting the constitution in the absence of Islamists will lead to civil war.