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www.GOALias.blogspot.com16 Politics in India since Independence“We are at a momentousstage in the history of India.By common endeavour, wecan raise the country tonew greatness, while lackof unity will expose us tounexpected calamities. Ihope the Indian States willrealise fully that if we donot cooperate and worktogether in the generalinterest, anarchy and chaoswill overwhelm us all, greatand small, and lead us tototal ruin...“Sardar PatelLetter to Princely rulers,1947.of Hyderabad made a similar announcement the next day. Rulers likethe Nawab of Bhopal were averse to joining the Constituent Assembly.This response of the rulers of the Princely States meant that afterIndependence there was a very real possibility that India would getfurther divided into a number of small countries. The prospects ofdemocracy for the people in these states also looked bleak. This was astrange situation, since the Indian Independence was aimed at unity,self-determination as well as democracy. In most of these princelystates, governments were run in a non-democratic manner and therulers were unwilling to give democratic rights to their populations.Government’s approachThe interim government took a firm stance against the possibledivision of India into small principalities of different sizes. The MuslimLeague opposed the Indian National Congress and took the view thatthe States should be free to adopt any course they liked. Sardar Patelwas India’s Deputy Prime Minister and the Home Minister duringthe crucial period immediately following Independence. He played ahistoric role in negotiating with the rulers of princely states firmly butdiplomatically and bringing most of them into the Indian Union. Itmay look easy now. But it was a very complicated task which requiredskilful persuasion. For instance, there were 26 small states in today’sOrissa. Saurashtra region of Gujarat had 14 big states, 119 smallstates and numerous other different administrations.The government’s approach was guided by three considerations.Firstly, the people of most of the princely states clearly wanted tobecome part of the Indian union. Secondly, the government wasprepared to be flexible in giving autonomy to some regions. The ideawas to accommodate plurality and adopt a flexible approach in dealingwith the demands of the regions. Thirdly, in the backdrop of Partitionwhich brought into focus the contest over demarcation of territory,the integration and consolidation of the territorial boundaries of thenation had assumed supreme importance.Before 15 August 1947, peaceful negotiations had brought almostall states whose territories were contiguous to the new boundaries ofIndia, into the Indian Union. The rulers of most of the states signeda document called the ‘Instrument of Accession’ which meant thattheir state agreed to become a part of the Union of India. Accession ofthe Princely States of Junagadh, Hyderabad, Kashmir and Manipurproved more difficult than the rest. The issue of Junagarh was resolvedafter a plebiscite confirmed people’s desire to join India. You will readabout Kashmir in Chapter Eight. Here, let us look at the cases ofHyderabad and Manipur.