apprehension from Congress in the minds of kings
When the Indian Independence Act 1947 was declared, a provision was made in its section 8 that on 15 August 1947, the sovereignty of the British government over the native states would end and it would be transferred again to the native states. Many kings made up their mind to take advantage of this facility being provided by the British. On the basis of this facility, the native states were free to join or maintain a separate existence in either India or Pakistan as per their wish.
Muhammad Ali Jinnah demanded the whole of Punjab and the whole of Bengal in the future Pakistan to be created through the Muslim League movement, but the actual boundaries of India-Pakistan were not disclosed until Pakistan was formed. For these reasons, there was an illusion in the minds of the Indian kings that the whole of Punjab would go to Pakistan.
Due to this, many princely states like Jaisalmer, Bikaner, Alwar, Jodhpur etc. felt that after the partition of the country, their state would be situated between the borders of both India and Pakistan, so they could choose either India or Pakistan of their own free will. will be in position. Since the Congress was threatening the kings from the beginning that the right of supremacy over the princely states would end from the British Crown to the federal government, the kings were afraid to meet in Congress-ruled India.
On 29 January 1947, a meeting of the Narendra Mandal was held at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay in which 60 kings and ministers of 100 states were present. In the meeting, the Chancellor of Narendra Mandal, Bhopal Nawab said- 'We are being told that either we move away or live on the margins. It would be unbearable for us to succumb to these threats.'
The Nawab also enumerated the basic principles on which the states are not ready to compromise. He demanded that the Cabinet Mission plan should be followed completely. The Diwan of Travancore, Sir CP Ramaswamy, accused the Constituent Assembly of trying to fix the form of government in the states. Through a resolution passed in the conference, the kings expressed their desire that the rulers are ready to give their all possible support for the making of the constitution in the Union of India proposed under the Cabinet Mission Plan.
Alwar King said in the meeting of Narendra-Mandal held in Bombay on April 3, 1947 that- 'The rulers of the native states should not be found in the Hindi Union State' But on 10 April 1947, Baroda, Patiala, Bikaner, Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Rewan announced their participation in the Constituent Assembly. Even now many kings were out of the Constituent Assembly.
Therefore, on 18 April 1947, Jawaharlal Nehru warned the kings in the eighth session of the All India Country State Praja Parishad that the kings who would not participate in the Constituent Assembly at this time would be considered as the enemy of the country and they would have to suffer the consequences.
Liaquat Ali called upon the kings not to fall prey to Nehru's threats. Many kings were angry and afraid of Congress because of the harsh language being used by the Congress leaders towards the native states like Nehru, Gandhi Pyarelal etc. That's why they were considering joining Pakistan or staying independent or forming a separate group of native states and joining it.
At the time of independence, most of the states in India were Hindu states. The rulers of the states of Hyderabad, Bhopal, Junagadh and Tonk were Muslims but the majority of the people there were Hindus. While the king of Kashmir was Hindu, the majority of his subjects were Muslims. Thus the Indian states and their peoples were thus ethnically linked to the Hindu-majority region of British India.
At the time of independence, there were 566 princely states in India, out of which 12 princely states – Bahawalpur, Khairpur, Kalat, Las Bela, Makran, Kharan, Amb (Tanaval), Chitral, Hunza, Dhir, Nagar and Swat, were surrounded by Pakistani territories. That's why they had to be included in Pakistan. The remaining 554 princely states were to remain in India.
Junagadh (Saurashtra), Hyderabad (South India) and Bhopal (Central India) ruled by Muslim rulers and Kashmir ruled by Hindu rulers but Muslim majority states did not agree to join India. Some Hindu states also started dreaming of being independent from India and Pakistan.
The princely state called Kalat, located in Pakistani territory, refused to accede to Pakistan. Jinnah remained silent at that time, but in March 1948, the Pakistani army invaded Kalat and forcibly annexed it to Pakistan.
Small states had no option but to merge with the Union of India, but the situation of large and capable states was different. Travancore, Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Mysore, Indore, Bhopal, Navanagar and even the dwarf princely state of Bilaspur dreamed of being completely independent. The Bhopal Nawab did not want to allow the formation of a strong union at the center by misusing the post of Chancellor of the Narendra Mandal.
In such a situation, King Sadul Singh of Bikaner came forward to lead the kings of the country on the platform of national politics and broke the Chakravyuh created by the Nawab. On 10 April 1947, important states like Baroda, Patiala, Bikaner, Udaipur, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Rewan completely destroyed the plans of the Nawab by announcing their participation in the Constituent Assembly.
The rulers wanted the end of paramountcy to be done immediately so that they could negotiate more strongly for their rights, but the British government believed that the end of sovereignty for British-India and the end of paramountcy for princely-India were separate. Dates cannot be there. The states of Rajputana, standing at the gates of independence, changed the course of the history of the country in the right direction forever. The kings of Rajputana at this time took special care that they were not accused of being an enemy of the constitutional progress of India.
On 5 June 1947, Bhopal and Travancore announced their decision to remain independent. Hyderabad also felt the same fit. Similar announcements were likely to be made by a group of states like Kashmir, Indore, Jodhpur, Dholpur, Bharatpur and some others. Thus the ambitions of the rulers of some princely states became a threat to the integrity of the country. Sir Archibald Nye, the then governor of Madras and later Britain's first high commissioner in independent India, was suspicious of any treaty with the princely states.
Mountbatten told Sardar Patel- 'If the kings are not stripped of their titles, the palace should remain with them, they should be kept free from arrest, the facility of privypers should continue and any honor given by the British If not prevented from accepting the Viceroy, then the Viceroy will persuade the kings to merge their states into the Indian Union and give up the idea of independence.'
Patel put a condition in front of Mountbatten that- 'He will accept Mountbatten's condition if Mountbatten puts all the princely states in India's bag.'
Tej Bahadur Sapru said- 'I wonder at those states, whether they are small or big, that they are so stupid that they think that they will become independent in this way and then maintain their independence Will keep.'
The messiahs of the ill-fated had prophesied that- 'The boat of freedom of India would hit the rock of the princely states.'