Consolidation of the India

Consolidation of the India means merging the different states into a one country…….

Integration of Princely States & Foreign Territories

• On July 5, 1947 the British Parliament passed the
  Indian Independence Act
• The Act provided for the creation of two
  independent dominions of India and Pakistan with
  effect from August 15, 1947.
• The constituent assembly of the each new
  dominion was to exercise the powers of the
  legislature of that dominion, and the existing
  Central Legislative Assembly and the Council of
  States were to be automatically dissolved
• Under Mountbatten Plan, the various princely
  states now rendered independence by lapse of
  paramountcy would have the option of joining
  India or Pakistan or remaining separate

What is Paramountcy

• Annexation under Subsidiary Alliance and Doctrine of
  Lapse
• Revolt of 1857 and the Rude Shock
• Crown Rule and Concept of Suzerainty
• Princely States covered one-third of the land area of
  the British Indian Empire & one out of four Indians
  lived under princely rule.

Government’s Approach

• The interim government took a firm stance.
• Sardar Patel was India’s Deputy Prime Minister & the Home
  Minister during this crucial period.
• He played a historic role in negotiating with the rulers of
  princely states firmly but diplomatically and bringing most of
  them into the Indian Union.
• On June 27, 1947, Sardar Patel assumed additional charge
  of the newly created States Department with V.P. Menon as its
  Secretary.

The Considerations

First, the people of most of the princely states clearly wanted to become part of the Indian
union.

Second, the government was prepared to be flexible in giving autonomy to some
regions.
The idea was to accommodate plurality and adopt a flexible approach in dealing with the demands
of the regions.

Third, in the context of the Partition, demarcation of territory, the integration & consolidation of
the territorial boundaries of the nation had assumed supreme importance

Patel’s Strategy

• Patel’s first step was to appeal to the princes whose
  territories fell inside India to accede to the Indian
  Union in three subjects which affected the common
  interests of the country, namely, foreign relations,
  defense and communications.
• He also gave an implied threat that he would not be
  able to restrain the impatient people post August 15,
  1947.
• States were issued an appeal with an implied threat of
  anarchy & chaos.
  
• Next step of Patel was to convince Mountbatten to bat
  for India.
• 25th July speech of Mountbatten to the Chamber of
  Princes finally persuaded the Princes.
• This speech ranked as the most significant Act of
  Mountbatten in India. After this, virtually all the states
  except 3 signed the Instrument of Accession.

• First of all, the ruler of Travancore announced that the state had
  decided on Independence.
• The Nizam of Hyderabad made a similar announcement the
  next day.
• Rulers like the Nawab of Bhopal were averse to joining the
  Constituent Assembly.
• The prospects of democracy for the people in these states also
  looked bleak.
• This was a strange situation, since the Indian Independence was
  aimed at unity, self-determination as well as democracy. In most
  of these princely states, governments were run in a nondemocratic manner and the rulers were unwilling to give
  democratic rights to their populations.

Princely States

Travancore

• Travancore was under the Maharaja of Travancore Chithira
  Thirunal but the real ruler was its Diwan C. P. Ramaswamy
  Aiyyer.
• There was an attack on C. P. Aiyyar and after that it was
  Maharaja of Travancore which wired the government that they
  are ready for accession

Bhopal

• Mainly Hindu population & ruler was
  Hamidullah Khan supported by Jinnah.
• There was a revolt against the Bhopal
  ruler, he faced pressure from Patel and the
  population
• Finally signed the Instrument of Accession.

Jodhpur

• A Hindu king was there, it’s accession was a serious issue due to
  its proximity to border.
• Jinnah also persuaded him but after tremendous pressure from
  Patel and Menon, finally he signed the Instrument of Accession.

Junagadh

• Junagadh was a small state on the coast of Saurashtra surrounded by
  Indian Territory without any geographical contiguity with Pakistan.
• Yet it’s Nawab Mahabbat Khan announced accession of his state to
  Pakistan on August 15, 1947 even though majority of the people,
  overwhelmingly Hindu, desired to join India.
• People of the state organized a popular movement and a group of
  Junagarhi people forced the Nawab to flee and formed Aarze Hukumat
  led by Samal Das Gandhi.
  
• The issue of Junagarh was resolved after a plebiscite which
  confirmed people’s desire to join India.
• The Diwan of Junagadh, Shah Nawaz Bhutto, now decided to invite
  the Government of India to intervene.
• Indian troops marched into the state. Later, a plebiscite was held in
  state in February 1948, which favored joining India

Hyderabad

• Hyderabad, the largest of the Princely States was surrounded
  entirely by Indian territory.
• Some parts of the old Hyderabad state are today parts of
  Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
• Rule of the Nizam was unjust and tyrannical and he had Majlis-eIttihad-ul Muslimin or MIM (Council of the Union of Muslims)
  which was a Muslim political party to safeguard the interest of
  Muslims in India.
  
• The MIM advocated the set up of a Muslim dominion rather than
  integration with India.
• Nizam Mir Osman Ali wanted an independent status for Hyderabad.
• He entered into what was called the Stand still Agreement with India
  in November 1947 for a year while negotiations with the Indian
  government were going on.
• In the meantime, a movement of the people of Hyderabad State
  against the Nizam’s rule gathered force.
• The peasantry in the Telangana region in particular, was the victim of Nizam’s
  oppressive rule and rose against him. Women who had seen the worst of this
  oppression joined the movement in large numbers.
• Hyderabad town was the nerve centre of this movement.
• The Communists and the Hyderabad Congress were in the forefront of the
  movement.
• The Nizam responded by unleashing a para-military force known as the
  Razakars on the people. The atrocities and communal nature of the Razakars
  knew no bounds.
• They murdered, maimed, raped and looted, targeting
  particularly the non Muslims.
• The central government had to order the army to tackle
  the situation. In September 1948, Indian army moved in
  to control the Nizam’s forces.
• After a few days of intermittent fighting, the Nizam
  surrendered. This led to Hyderabad’s accession to India

Kashmir

• Hindu Ruler- Hari Singh and 75% of the Population was Muslim
• Decided to accede neither to India or to Pakistan
• Pakistan tries to short-circuit the process
• On 22 October, Pakistani Army crosses over with Pathani
  tribesmen
• On 24th October Hari Singh demanded military assistance from
  Indian government. Mountbatten pointed out that under
  international law India can send its troops only after the state sign
  a formal instrument of accession.
  
• V. P. Menon went to Kashmir and on 26th October Maharaja
  signed instrument of accession.
• 27th October morning nearly 100 planes airlifted men and
  weapons to Srinagar.
• Pakistan army left the main valley region but continue to
  occupy a large chunk of territory of Gilgit, Baltistan region.
• Sheikh Abdullah became the Prime Minister.
• India decided to take the Kashmir issue to UN.
• Security Council was with Pakistan; both USA and
  Britain supported Pakistan & even Nehru accepted that
  they were playing a dirty game.
• Finally after a security council resolution there was a
  cease fire from 1st January 1948 and India and
  Pakistan agreed upon ceasefire line as LoC.
• In 1951 UN passed a resolution for a referendum
  under UN supervision after Pak has withdrawn its
  troops. This resolution remains ineffective because
  Pakistan never withdrew its force from what is called
  Azad Kashmir or Pak occupied Kashmir.

Foreign Territories

Goa

In 1950, the Indian government, in a
bid to start diplomatic measures to free
Goa, asked the Portuguese government
to start negotiations for the
independence of Goa.

However, Portugal refused saying that Goa and
its other Indian possessions were not colonies
but an integral part of metropolitan Portugal;
and also that since the Indian republic had not
existed when Goa became a part of Portugal, it
had no right to ask for Goa’s merger.

In 1953, the Indian diplomatic mission
in Lisbon (capital of Portugal) was
withdrawn.

By 1954, India imposed travel restrictions
between India and Goa which impeded
transport from Goa and other Portugal
enclaves which were wholly within Indian
Territory

Economic blockades were also imposed
on the Portuguese colonies.
In 1955, about 3000 unarmed Indian
civilians tried to enter Goa. But they were
rebuffed by Portuguese police officers and
around 30 civilians were killed. That year,
Indian consul office in Goa was shut down.

There was also a huge outcry among the
Indian people against Portuguese
continuance in Goa.
By this time, India was seriously
contemplating military action against
Portuguese presence in Goa.

On 24 November 1961, a passenger
boat plying between Anjidiv Island
(held by Portugal) and Kochi was fired
at by Portuguese authorities and this
resulted in one death.
Dadra and Nagar Haveli was annexed
by India in 1954 with the support of
the United Front of Goans, the Azad
Gomantak Dal and the National
Movement Liberation Organisation.

Pondicherry

• From the time India gained its independence, it raised
  the issue of the French settlements on the continent
  with the Government of France.
• Jerome D’Souza, a member of the Constituent
  Assembly was appointed by the Government of India
  to negotiate with the French authorities in Pondicherry.
  
• As a result of these negotiations, the French
  agreed to hold a referendum in their territories
  regarding the political status of the French
  territories in India.
• However, sensing that the result of the referendum
  may not be in favor of merger with India, the
  Government of India withdrew support for the
  referendum.
• Parallelly there was a movement within these territories
  for integration with India.
• A momentous event in the freedom movement of
  Puducherry occurred on 18 March 1954, when the
  members of the executive council and mayors of
  Pondicherry and seven adjoining communes proclaimed
  their decision to merge with India without a referendum.
• Five days later, on 18 October 1954 the elected members
  of the Representative Assembly and the municipal
  councilors of Pondicherry and Karaikkal took part in a
  referendum at Kizhur.
• Of the 178 members voting, an overwhelming majority of
  170 members favored the merger of French Indian
  territories with the Republic of India.
• Three days later, an agreement on the de facto transfer of
  the French territories to India was signed in New Delhi
  between the two countries.
• A treaty of cession was signed by the two countries in May

1. It was ratified by the French parliament in May
   1962