Notes for Modern History (Post-Independence)
Integration of the British Indian Provinces and the Princely States
- British India was divided into what were called the British Indian Provinces and the Princely States.
- The British Indian Provinces were directly under the control of the British government.
- On the other hand, several large and small states ruled by princes, called the Princely States, enjoyed some form of control over their internal affairs as long as they accepted British supremacy. This was called paramountcy or suzerainty of the British crown.
- Princely States covered one-third of the land area of the British Indian Empire and one out of four Indians lived under princely rule.
The problem
- Just before Independence it was announced by the British that with the end of their rule over India, paramountcy of the British crown over Princely States would also lapse. This meant that all these states, as many as 565 in all, would become legally independent.
- The British government took the view that all these states were free to join either India or Pakistan or remain independent if they so wished. This decision was left not to the people but to the princely rulers of these states.
- This was a very serious problem and could threaten the very existence of a united India. The problems started very soon.
- First of all, the ruler of Travancore announced that the state had decided on Independence.
- The Nizam of Hyderabad made a similar announcement the next day.
- Rulers like the Nawab of Bhopal were averse to joining the Constituent Assembly.
- This response of the rulers of the Princely States meant that after Independence there was a very real possibility that India would get further divided into a number of small countries.
- The prospects of democracy for the people in these states also looked bleak. This was a strange situation, since the Indian Independence was aimed at unity, self-determination as well as democracy.
- In most of these princely states, governments were run in a non-democratic manner and the rulers were unwilling to give democratic rights to their populations.
Govt’s approach
- The interim government took a firm stance against the possible division of India into small principalities of different sizes.
- Sardar Patel played a historic role in negotiating with the rulers of princely states firmly but diplomatically and bringing most of them into the Indian Union.
- But it was a very complicated task. For instance, there were 26 small states in today’s Orissa. Saurashtra region of Gujarat had 14 big states, 119 small states and numerous other different administrations.
- The government’s approach was guided by three considerations.
- Firstly, the people of most of the princely states clearly wanted to become part of the Indian union.
- Secondly, the government was prepared to be flexible in giving autonomy to some regions. The idea was to accommodate plurality and adopt a flexible approach in dealing with the demands of the regions.
- Thirdly, in the backdrop of Partition which brought into focus the contest over demarcation of territory, the integration and consolidation of the territorial boundaries of the nation had assumed supreme importance.
- Before 15 August 1947, peaceful negotiations had brought almost all states whose territories were contiguous to the new boundaries of India, into the Indian Union.
- The rulers of most of the states signed a document called the ‘Instrument of Accession’ which meant that their state agreed to become a part of the Union of India.
- Accession of the Princely States of Junagadh, Hyderabad, Kashmir and Manipur proved more difficult than the rest.
Integration of Hyderabad
- Hyderabad, the largest of the Princely States was surrounded entirely by Indian territory.
- Some parts of the old Hyderabad state are today parts of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
- Its ruler carried the title, ‘Nizam’, and he wanted an independent status for Hyderabad.
- He entered into what was called the Standstill Agreement with India in November 1947 for a year while negotiations with the Indian government were going on.
- In the meantime, a movement of the people of Hyderabad State against the Nizam’s rule gathered force.
- The peasantry in the Telangana region in particular, was the victim of Nizam’s oppressive rule and rose against him.
- Women who had seen the worst of this oppression joined the movement in large numbers.
- Hyderabad town was the nerve centre of this movement.
- The Communists and the Hyderabad Congress were in the forefront of the movement.
- The Nizam responded by unleashing a para-military force known as the Razakars on the people.
- The atrocities and communal nature of the Razakars knew no bounds. They murdered, maimed, raped and looted, targeting particularly the non- Muslims.
- The central government had to order the army to tackle the situation. In September 1948, Indian army moved in to control the Nizam’s forces.
- After a few days of intermittent fighting, the Nizam surrendered. This led to Hyderabad’s accession to India.
