Of India's 566 native states, 12 were located within the geographical boundary of the proposed Pakistan, while most of the remaining 554 were surrounded by Indian territories. Some of the states were located on the proposed India-Pakistan border. All the states situated on the Indo-Pakistan border were ruled by Hindu majority subjects and Hindu rulers. For this reason, it was naturally to be included in India itself, but the Muslim League now played a double trick.
He adopted a very soft attitude with the native states. It was convenient for him to do so. Jinnah was trying that more and more princely states should declare their independence or join Pakistan so that the Indian Union could become permanently weak.
Therefore Jinnah tried to include the Indian princely states in Pakistan by giving lucrative proposals. He declared that the Muslim League would not interfere at all in the native states and that even if the native states remained independent, they would not be given any kind of trouble from the Muslim League.
At the same time, a cartoon by cartoonist David Law was published in the London Evening Standard titled 'Your Babies Now', in which the problem of Indian kings before the national leaders of India was accurately depicted. In this cartoon, Nehru and Jinnah were shown sitting on different chairs with some children sitting on their lap. Britain was shown as a nurse walking away with the Union Jack.
The children sitting on Nehru's lap were depicted as the problem of the kings who were kicking and shouting at Nehru's knees.
Sir Archibald Nye, the then Governor of Madras and later Britain's first High Commissioner in independent India, suspected any treaty between the Indian government and the princely states. The national leaders and the rulers of the native states often did not maintain good relations while Mountbatten was also talking to the native kings.
That's why he knew the wishes of the native kings. Sardar Patel sought the cooperation of Mountbatten to agree the princely states to join India. Patel told Mountbatten that if you cooperate in this work, then the people of India will be indebted to you for centuries.
Mountbatten accepted the request. He told Patel that if their titles were not taken away from the kings, the palace should remain with them, they should be kept free from arrest, the facility of privypers should continue and if they were not prevented from accepting any honor given by the British, then the Viceroy, Will persuade the kings to merge their states with the Indian Union and give up the idea of independence.
Sardar Patel also placed a condition in front of Mountbatten that he would accept Mountbatten's condition if Mountbatten put all those princely states in India's bag which come in the soil of independent India. If all the princely states are merged in India, then the wound of partition will be greatly reduced.