Integration of States: Key Phases and Plans | Studento
Integration of States: State People's Movement
During 1946-47, there was a new upsurge of the State People's Movement demanding political rights and elective representation in the Constituent Assembly.
Nehru presided over the All India State People's Conference sessions in Udaipur (1945) and Gwalior (April 1947).
He declared that states refusing to join the Constituent Assembly would be treated as hostile.
In July 1947, Vallabhbhai Patel took charge of the new States Department.
Under Patel, the incorporation of Indian states took place in two phases with a skillful combination of baits and threats of mass pressure.
Phase I
By August 15, 1947, all states except Kashmir, Hyderabad, and Junagarh had signed an instrument of accession with the Indian government.
This acknowledged central authority over defense, external affairs, and communication.
The princes agreed fairly easily because:
They were ‘surrendering’ only what they never had (these three functions had been part of the British paramountcy).
There was no change in the internal political structure.
Phase II
The second phase involved a more difficult process of ‘integration’ of states with neighboring provinces or into new units like:
Kathiawar Union
Vindhya and Madhya Pradesh
Rajasthan
Himachal Pradesh
Internal constitutional changes in states that retained their old boundaries (Hyderabad, Mysore, Travancore-Cochin) were also part of this phase.
This phase was accomplished within a year.
The principal bait offered was a generous privy purse, while some princes were made governors and rajpramukhs in free India.
This rapid political unification of the country after independence was Patel’s greatest achievement.
Plan Balkan
Between March and May of 1947, Mountbatten decided that the Cabinet Mission Plan had become untenable and formulated an alternative plan.
The plan envisaged the transfer of power to separate provinces (or to a confederation, if formed before the transfer), with Punjab and Bengal given the option to vote for partition of their provinces.
The various units formed, along with the princely states (rendered independent by lapse of paramountcy), would have the option of joining India, Pakistan, or remaining separate.
The plan was quickly abandoned after Nehru reacted violently to it.
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