Chapter – 1

Challenges of Nation Building

India’s independence
 India became independent on the midnight of 14, 15 August 1947.
 At this time a speech was given by Jawaharlal Nehru which is called Tryst
with Destiny
 After independence India was divided into three different parts. Of which
the first part was British India, the second part was Pakistan and the third
part was the princely states (princely states means the place where the
kings used to rule)

The reason for this partition was the two-nation theory

Two Nation Theory
This theory was introduced by the Muslim League. According to this
principle, India was not the nation of one religion but two different religions,
hence the demand for two different countries was made. Out of which the
first country was India which became a Hindu nation and the second
country was Pakistan which became a Muslim nation. There were also
some problems with this partition.

Segmentation Problems
Two Pakistans
According to this theory, the place where Hindus were more was to be
made India and where Muslims were more, Pakistan was to be made. But
the problem was that at that time there were two areas in India where the
Muslim population was more. One was in the east and the other was in
the west therefore two Pakistans (East Pakistan and West Pakistan) were
created.
Division of states
Punjab and Bengal were two such states where both Muslims and Hindus
were in equal quantity, due to which these states had to be divided.
 Public dissent
There were many people who did not want to go to Pakistan, Khan Abdul
Ghaffar Khan, also known as Frontier Gandhi. He openly opposed the two-
nation theory. The voice of all such people was suppressed and they were
forced to join Pakistan.
Problem of minorities
It was not that there were no Hindus in Pakistan’s territory or no Muslims in
Indian territory. Minorities were present in both the regions. This was the
biggest problem of partition and no solution could be found for this problem
and this problem went on to become the biggest reason for the riots in both
the countries.

Result of division
 East and West Pakistan came into existence
 There was extreme violence, with great loss of both life and property.
 The refugee problem arose in both Pakistan and India.
 The problem of Kashmir also arose due to partition.

Nation building challenges

After dealing with the partition and its tragedy, the attention of the leaders
turned to those problems which were of utmost importance. These were the
issues on which all the leaders had agreed before independence and now
they had to be brought into existence.

Building a united India

India was divided into three different parts. Of which the first part was
British India, the second part was Pakistan and the third part was the
indigenous princely states. In such a situation, India has to convince those
565 independent princely states to be a part of India, to make a united India
and this became a huge became a challenge

Establish democracy
At the time of independence, most of the people in India were illiterate and
poor, in such a situation establishing democracy in India was no less than a
challenge.
 Development
At the time of independence, most of the people in India were poor and
uneducated. It was necessary for the country to get out of this poverty and
illiteracy therefore development was also one of the challenges present at
the time of independence.

The problem of Princely states

 At the time of independence, the British announced that along with India, all
the indigenous princely states would also become independent from the
British rule.
 All the princely states were given the right to either join India or Pakistan or
maintain their independent existence.
 The right to take this decision was given to the kings of the princely
states. That’s where the whole problem started.
 After the demolition caused by partition, the biggest problem was to merge
all the 565 indigenous princely states with India to form a united
India. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel played an important role in this process.

Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and National Integration

The Indian government’s approach to the inclusion of princely states was
flexible. Both normal negotiation and use of force were adopted by the
government as per the need.

Instrument of accession
A Memorandum of Understanding was prepared for the merger of the
princely states. This MoU is called Instrument of Accession. Signing this
meant that the princely state was ready to join India.
Most of the princely states agreed to join India, but there were
problems in the inclusion of some princely states in India.

 The credit for the inclusion of all the princely states in India goes to Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel.
 Through his understanding and political knowledge, he convinced all the
princely states and got them included in India and made an important
contribution in making a united India.
 Due to his contributions, he was given the title of Iron Man by Mahatma
Gandhi and at the same time he became the first Home Minister of the
country.
 In the present era, the Statue of Unity was built by the government in honor
of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, which is one of the largest statues in the
world.

Hyderabad
 Hyderabad was one of the largest princely states of India at the time of
independence.
 Its ruler was called Nizam.
 The Nizam was one of the richest persons in the world at that time.
 The Nizam wanted Hyderabad to remain separate from India and become
an independent state, but the people living in Hyderabad were not happy
with his rule.
 Because of which the people of Hyderabad started agitating against the
Nizam.
 Seeing all this and to stop this rebellion, the Nizam sent the Razakars.
 The soldiers of Nizam were called Razakars. The Razakars committed
robbery, murder and rape.
 In view of this atrocity on the people, in September 1948, the Indian Army
attacked Hyderabad so that the general public could be saved from the
Razakars.
 This war lasted for a long time and in the end the Nizam had to give up and
thus Hyderabad became a part of India.

Manipur
 Manipur was a princely state located in the east of India.
 The king of this was Bodh Chandra Singh.
 Due to the pressure of the people, the king had to hold elections in June
1948 and in this way the constitutional monarchy was established in
Manipur
 There was a lot of difference of opinion in the Legislative Assembly of
Manipur on the issue of full accession to India.
 Congress wanted Manipur to join India completely but the rest of the
parties did not want it.
 If the resolution to remain separate from India was passed in the assembly,
it would have been impossible to include Manipur in India.
 In view of this, the Indian government put pressure on the king of Manipur
and got him to sign the complete accession letter, thus Manipur became a
part of India.
 The people of Manipur did not like this and the people there were angry
with this decision for a long time.

Jammu and Kashmir

 The state of Jammu and Kashmir is located on the northernmost part of
India
 Before independence, Jammu and Kashmir used to be a princely state,
whose king was Hari Singh.
 Raja Hari Singh wanted to remain independent while Pakistan used to say
that Jammu and Kashmir has more Muslim population, therefore Jammu
and Kashmir should be included in Pakistan.
 immediately after independence, in view of this demand, Pakistan attacked
Jammu and Kashmir with the aim of capturing it.
 Raja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir asked India for help and India
helped him
 Meanwhile, Raja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir signed the Instrument
of India’s accession and officially Jammu and Kashmir became a part of
India.
 During this, it was also said that when the situation becomes normal, a
referendum will be held there. to know in which country the people of
Jammu and Kashmir want to join.
 But this referendum was not conducted till date and Jammu and Kashmir
was given special rights under Article 370.
 During the war in 1947, Pakistan occupied some part of Jammu and
Kashmir, which Pakistan calls Azad Kashmir and by India it is
called POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir).

Current status of Jammu and Kashmir

 Article 370 was revoked by the government in 2019 and the special status
of Jammu and Kashmir was abolished
 At present Jammu and Kashmir is divided into 2 union territories.

Reorganization of states
 The biggest problem that existed after the merger of the princely states was
how to determine the boundaries of the states in the country.
 It was necessary to do this so that people with the same culture and
language could live in one state.
 During the British rule, special attention was not paid to the boundaries of
the states. Whenever a new area came under British rule, it was either
made a new state or it was included in the old states. For this reason, it
was necessary to reorganize the boundaries of the states.

Problem
 The Indian leaders feared that if the states were formed on the basis of
language, then it could lead to disorder and there could be a danger of the
breakdown of the country.
 At the same time, doing so can divert the attention of the government from
other main issues.
 But Movements started in the country regarding the issue of reorganization
of states. The biggest movement took place in Madras where Telugu
speaking people demanded the creation of a Telugu speaking state Andhra
Pradesh from Madras.
 Almost all the political parties and leaders present in Madras were in favour
of creating a Telugu speaking state.
 When this demand was not fulfilled by the central government, many MLAs
resigned.
 There was chaos all over Madras. People came on the streets in large
numbers and violent incidents took place.

Result
 In view of this situation, the central government had to bow down and in
December 1952, the Prime Minister announced the creation of a separate
state named Andhra Pradesh.

State Reorganization Commission

In view of the increasing disorder in the country, the
government constituted the States Reorganization Commission for the
reorganization of the states.
 Work
The function of this commission was to consider the process of state
reorganization.

Result
 The commission also agreed that the reorganization of the states should be
on the basis of the language spoken there.
 On the basis of the report of this commission, the State Reorganization Act
was passed in 1956.
 On the basis of this act, 14 states and 6 union territories were created in
the country.

MAP QUESTION:

1. In the political outline of India given below five states have been
marked as A. B. C. D and E. Identify these states / Union Territoryon
the basis of information given below and write their correct names in
your answer book along with the respective serial number of the
information used and the concerned alphabet in the map as per the
following format.

S. No. Of the information used Concerned alphabet Name of the state

2)

3)

4)