Integration of The Princely States

Integration of the Princely States
At the time of independence, there were more than 500 princely states in India that were not a
part of the British Empire officially. These 500 princely states covered 48 per cent of the Pre-
Independent Indian area. Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel was given the task of the integration of
princely states. The Indian Independence Act of 1947 gave princely states the choice to
accede to either India or Pakistan or remain independent. Persuasion, diplomacy, military
force or plebiscite were the methods for the integration of princely states in India.
Important persons involved in the Integration of state: Lord Mount Batten(Viceroy of India),
Sardar Vallabhai Pattel(Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of India), V P
Menon(Political adviser of Lord Mount Batten) and Jawahar Lal Nehru( Prime Minister)
Why was the Integration of the Princely States necessary?

Post-independence, one of the first and major problems that surfaced was the integration of
the princely states into the concept of a single unified, uniformly administered India. Since
these princely states, were patronized by the British on a large scale during the 19th and
20th centuries, they were not comfortable with the idea of giving away their power and
prestige. Some of these states that posed problems were Jodhpur, Bhopal and
Travancore before independence and Junagarh, Hyderabad and Kashmir post-independence.
The newly-formed Government of India was against the idea of having independent nations
within the state would only jeopardise the internal and external security of India. It was
speculated that in case of an act of aggression by a foreign power, these Princely States
would be used as the staging ground for an attack on the country at large. It wasn’t just the
Indian Government trying to woo the Princely states but also Pakistan as well. Thus it was
necessary to integrate the Princely states as soon as possible.
How were all the Princely States integrated into the Union of India?
India’s first Deputy Prime Minister, Sardar Vallabhai Patel (Born on October 31st, 1875)
used a combination of political manoeuvring and brute force to integrate the Princely states.
Some of his notable actions on these states are listed below:
Jodhpur: The services of the Diwan of the neighbouring state of Bikaner were used to
persuade the King of Jodhpur to align herself with India. Thus, the Instrument of Accession
with Jodhpur was signed.
Bhopal: After Lord Mountbatten asked the Nawab of Bhopal to sign the Instrument of
Accession, he tried to avoid any integration to the Union of India by reasoning the interests of
Muslims in the Hindu-dominated region will be compromised after the accession. But the
people of Bhopal had realized that this was only being done to preserve the Nawab’s owns
power in the state and had nothing to do with the genuine interests of any community. Hence,
the Nawab had to sign the Instrument of Accession with India.
Travancore: Since Travancore (Kerala) had good reserves of natural resources, it was
believed it could survive on its own and hence wanted to remain independent. The Dewan of
Travancore, C. P. Ramaswami Iyer, was invited by Jawaharlal Nehru to Delhi, in an effort to
persuade him, but he refused to sign the Instrument of Accession. CP was also unpopular
with the Communists of the Kingdom for his anti-communism stands. An assassination
attempt was made on C. P. on 25 July 1947. From his hospital bed, he advised the King of
Travancore to accede to India and thus the Instrument of Accession was signed.
Junagarh: Junagarh was a princely state which had a majority of Hindus but ruled by a
Muslim ruler. It had already signed the pact with Pakistan to be a part of the latter’s territory.
However, India firmly believed in the will of the people for such a decision. Hence, V.P
Menon and V.B Patel tried to convince the Diwan of Junagarh (Shahnawaz Khan Bhutto) to
conduct a plebiscite. But not before severing air and land links of Junagadh. Following
clashes between Indian and Junaghadi armies, the Nawab fled with his family to Pakistan.
His Dewan Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, the father of Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, decided to invite the
Government of India to intervene and wrote a letter to Mr Buch, the regional commissioner
of Saurashtra in the government of India to this effect. The subsequent plebiscite held later
saw the accession of Junagadh to India.
Hyderabad: The indication that the power of the rulers of Hyderabad was short-lived, could
be sensed through the events such as the movement of peasants under the communist
leadership against the Jagirdars and Talukdars, the Telangana uprising, and the spread of
Gandhian programmes such as Prabhat Pheri and Khadi. The Nawab of Hyderabad succeeded
in mobilizing a group of orthodox Muslims called as Ittehadul Muslameen and a militia
called Razakars. They challenged the idea of India and hence finally a police action was
taken by the Government of India in 1948 leading to the surrender of Hyderabad
on September 17 of that year. The Nawab agreed to accede Hyderabad to India. Read in
detail about Hyderabad entered into Subsidiary Alliance with British on the given link. In
return, he was made the Rajpramukh (Governor) of the democratic state of Hyderabad. This
can be referred to as a smooth transition of the king into democracy without feeling a sense of
dethronement.
Kashmir:
1. At the time of Independence, Kashmir was neither a part of India nor Pakistan. When
on 22nd Oct 1947, a section of Pakistanis backed by their army attacked Kashmir, the
King of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh requested for help from the Indian
Government.
2. After the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession, the Indian Army was sent to
the help of Kashmir.
3. Finally, a ceasefire between India and Pakistan took place on 31st Dec 1948. India
took this matter to the United Nations.
4. As a result in 1951, the United Nations asked Pakistan to remove its army and asked
India to hold a plebiscite in the area. However, Pakistan has not pulled its army away
from the area and till today, it is a matter of conflict between the two nations.
5. The area held by Pakistan is referred to as ‘Pak occupied Kashmir’ by India and is
referred to as ‘Azad Kashmir’ by Pakistan.
Note: plebiscite: The direct vote of all the members of an electorate on an important public
question such as a change in the constitution.

Reference: Integration of Indian States V P Menon

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Why was the Integration of the Princely States necessary?

question such as a change in the constitution.

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