ACCESSION OF PRINCELY STATE

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.
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.
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 - The princely state, situated on the southwestern end of
Gujarat, also did not accede to the Indian union by August 15, 1947. It was
the most important among the group of Kathiawar states and contained a large
Hindu population ruled by the Nawab, Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III.
On September 15, 1947, Nawab Mahabat Khanji chose to accede to Pakistan
ignoring Mountbatten’s views, arguing that Junagadh adjoined Pakistan by
sea. The rulers of two states that were subject to the suzerainty of Junagadh
— Mangrol and Babariawad — reacted by declaring their independence
from Junagadh and acceding to India. In response, the nawab of Junagadh
militarily occupied the two states. Rulers of the other neighbouring states
reacted angrily, sending troops to the Junagadh frontier, and appealed to the
Government of India for assistance. India believed that if Junagadh was
permitted to accede to Pakistan, communal tension already simmering in
Gujarat would worsen, and refused to accept the Nawab’s choice of
accession. The government pointed out that the state was 80% Hindu, and
called for a plebiscite to decide the question of accession. India cut off
supplies of fuel and coal to Junagadh, severed air and postal links, sent troops
to the frontier, and occupied the principalities of Mangrol and Babariawad that
had acceded to India. Pakistan agreed to discuss a plebiscite, subject to the
withdrawal of Indian troops, a condition India rejected. On 26 October, the
Nawab and his family fled to Pakistan following clashes with Indian troops.
Before leaving, the Nawab had emptied the state treasury of its cash and
securities. On November 7,1947 Junagadh’s court, facing collapse, invited the
Government of India to take over the State’s administration. The Dewan of
Junagadh, Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, the father of the more famous Zulfiqar Ali
Bhutto, decided to invite the Government of India to intervene. The
government of India accepted the invitation of the Dewan to intervene. A
plebiscite was conducted in February 1948, which went almost unanimously
in favour of accession to India. Junagadh became a part of the Indian state of
Saurashtra until November 1, 1956, when Saurashtra became part of Bombay
state. In 1960, Bombay state was split into the linguistic states of Maharashtra
 and Gujarat, in which Junagadh was located and since then Junagadh is part of
Gujarat.

HYDRABAD –
▪ It was the largest and richest of all princely states, covered a large portion
of the Deccan plateau. Nizam Mir Usman Ali was presiding over a largely
Hindu population in the princely state. He was very clear on his demand for
an independent state and blatantly refused to join the Indian dominion. He
drew support from Jinnah and the tussle over Hyderabad grew stronger over
time. Both requests and threats from Patel and other mediators failed to
change the mind of the Nizam, who kept expanding his army by importing
arms from Europe. Things took a turn for the worse when armed
fanatics (called Razakars) unleashed violence targeted at Hyderabad’s Hindu
residents.The Congress government decided to make a more decisive turn
after the Lord Mountbatten resignation in June 1948.On September 13, 1948,
Indian troops were sent to Hyderabad under ‘Operation Polo’.In an armed
encounter that lasted for about four days, the Indian army gained full
control of the state and Hyderabad became the integral part of India.Later, in
an attempt to reward the Nizam for his submission, he was made the governor
of the state of Hyderabad.

Kashmir –
▪ It was a princely state with a Hindu king ruling over a predominant
Muslim population which had remained reluctant to join either of the two
dominions.The case of this strategically located kingdom was not just very
different but also one of the toughest as it had important international
boundaries. The ruler of Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh had offered a
proposal of standstill agreement to both India and Pakistan, pending a
final decision on the state’s accession. Pakistan entered into the standstill
agreement but it invaded the Kashmir from north with an army of soldiers
and tribesmen carrying weapons. In the early hours of 24th October, 1947,
thousands of tribal pathan swept into Kashmir. The Maharaja of Jammu and
Kashmir appealed to India for help. He sent his representative Sheikh
Abdullah to Delhi to ask for India’s help. On 26th October 1947, Maharaja
Hari Singh fled from Srinagar and arrived in Jammu where he signed
an 'Instrument of Accession' of J&K state. According to the terms of the
document, the Indian jurisdiction would extend to external affairs,
communications and defence. After the document was signed, Indian troops
were airlifted into the state and fought alongside the Kashmiris. On 5th March,
1948, Maharaja Hari Singh announced the formation of an interim popular
government with Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah as the Prime Minister. In
1951, the state constituent assembly was elected. It met for the first time in
Srinagar on 31st October 1951. In 1952, the Delhi Agreement was signed
between Prime Ministers of India and Jammu & Kashmir giving special
position to the state under Indian Constitutional framework. On 6th february
1954, the J&K constituent assembly ratified the accession of the state to the
Union of India. The President subsequently issued the constitution order
under Article 370 of the Constitution extending the Union Constitution to the
state with some exceptions and modifications. As per Section 3 of the J&K
constitution, Jammu & Kashmir is and shall be an integral part of the Union of
India. On 5th of August 2019, the President of India promulgated
the Constitution (Application to Jammu and Kashmir) Order, 2019. The
order effectively abrogates the special status accorded to Jammu and
Kashmir under the provision of Article 370 - whereby provisions of the
Constitution which were applicable to other states were not applicable to
Jammu and Kashmir (J&K).