The difficult accessions: Junagadh, Hyderabad and Manipur

Detail

Background: what "accession" meant

• Instrument of Accession: a legal document. By signing it, a ruler joined his princely state to India or Pakistan. Usually the state handed over only three subjects: defence, foreign affairs and communications.
• Standstill Agreement: a short-term deal. It kept existing arrangements (trade, posts, railways) running while the final status was still being decided.
• Most of the 565 princely states joined India peacefully. Three were difficult: Junagadh, Hyderabad and Manipur. Kashmir was a fourth special case.

Junagadh: the ruler said Pakistan, the people said India

• Location: a small state in Kathiawar (now Gujarat). Most of its people were Hindu. Its ruler, the Nawab (Mahabat Khan), was Muslim. On land, India surrounded it on all sides [7].
• The Nawab's move: in August-September 1947 he acceded to Pakistan. Most of his people strongly opposed this [6][7].
• People's revolt (beyond NCERT):
• People rose against the Nawab.
• Under Samaldas Gandhi they set up a parallel government called the 'Arzi Hukumat' (provisional government).

• India took control of Junagadh in November 1947.

• Plebiscite (20 February 1948): a plebiscite is a direct vote of the people on a single question. An overwhelming majority voted to join India [6]. NCERT gives this only one line.

• The consistency question (a common exam angle):
• In Junagadh, India ignored the Muslim ruler's accession and followed the people's will, which it tested by a plebiscite.
• In Kashmir, India relied on the Hindu ruler's accession, even though most of the people were Muslim.
• Critics say India used different rules for different cases. India's reply: in both places it acted on popular will, through the plebiscite in Junagadh and through the support of Sheikh Abdullah's National Conference in Kashmir.

Kashmir (pointer only)

• Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947, after tribal raiders from Pakistan invaded. (Details → regional-aspirations; the 1947-48 war → india-external-relations.)

Hyderabad: the largest princely state

• Size and ruler: Hyderabad was the largest princely state, and Indian territory surrounded it. Its Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan (ruled 1911-48), was one of the richest men in the world [10].
• Aim: the Nizam wanted Hyderabad to be independent.
• Standstill Agreement (November 1947): signed with India for one year. Meanwhile, talks on Hyderabad's future went on.

The people's movement against the Nizam

• Who: peasants of Telangana and many women rose against the Nizam's harsh rule.
• Led by: the Communists and the Hyderabad State Congress.
• Nerve centre: Hyderabad town.

The Razakars

• Razakars: a communal paramilitary force, meaning an armed group that acts like an army but is not the regular army. The Nizam set them loose on the people. They were a Muslim militia [8].
• Link (beyond NCERT): they were the armed wing of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen, led by Qasim Razvi.
• What they did: killing, maiming, rape and looting, aimed mainly at non-Muslims. Their violence against Hindu communities drew the Indian government's attention [8].
• Case: Shoebullah Khan, a freedom fighter who edited the newspaper Imroz and opposed the Nizam, was brutally murdered by Razakars under Qasim Razvi [9]. It is a reminder that the Razakars also attacked Muslims who opposed them.

Operation Polo: the "police action"

• Operation Polo: the code name for the Indian Army's move into Hyderabad, 13-18 September 1948. India called it a 'police action' (not a war), because it treated the matter as an internal one.
• Sequence:
• The army moved in on 13 September 1948.
• After a few days of on-and-off fighting, the Nizam's forces were easily defeated [11].

• The Nizam surrendered on 17 September 1948, and the action ended on 18 September 1948 [3][4].

• Leader: Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel directed it [3][6].

• "109-hour struggle": official accounts describe the 13-17 September fight as a 109-hour struggle in which many lives were lost [3][5].

After accession

• Formal steps: Hyderabad acceded to the Union in 1949 and became a state in 1950 [11]. (NCERT: Hyderabad acceded right after the Nizam surrendered in 1948.)
• Part B state: under the original First Schedule of the Constitution (1950), Hyderabad was a Part B state (a former princely state headed by a Rajpramukh).
• The Nizam as Rajpramukh (beyond NCERT): Osman Ali was made Rajpramukh, the constitutional head of the state, until 1956. He had to act on the advice of ministers answerable to an elected legislature [10].
• Popular rule: first came a period of military and then interim civil rule. A popular ministry and legislature took office in March 1952 [11].
• End of the state: the States Reorganisation Act, 1956 divided Hyderabad among neighbouring states [10]. The Seventh Amendment Act, 1956 abolished the Part A/B/C categories.

Telangana armed struggle (1946-51)

• Telangana armed struggle: a Communist-led uprising of peasants against feudal oppression. This means the power of big landlords (deshmukhs, jagirdars), forced unpaid labour (vetti) and illegal dues.
• Chain of events:
• It began in 1946 against the landlords and the Nizam.
• After the 1948 accession, the CPI (Communist Party of India) kept up the armed fight, now against the Indian state.

• The army crushed it, and the CPI called it off in 1951.

• Result: the CPI turned to elections and fought the 1951-52 general election (→ one-party-dominance).

Where old Hyderabad state lies today

Part of old Hyderabad state	Present state
Telangana region (with Hyderabad city)	Telangana (formed 2014)
Marathwada	Maharashtra
Kalyana-Karnataka (earlier Hyderabad-Karnataka)	Karnataka

• (NCERT: says the old state is in "Andhra Pradesh". This is outdated since Telangana was created in 2014.)

17 September today

• 17 September is marked every year as "Hyderabad Liberation Day" in Telangana and in parts of Maharashtra and Karnataka [3][4].
• For the 75th anniversary (2022), the Union government approved a year-long commemoration of Hyderabad Liberation Day [2][4].

Manipur: accession, democracy, then a disputed merger

• Accession: Maharaja Bodhachandra Singh (ruled 1941-49) [12] signed the Instrument of Accession a few days before independence (August 1947). In return, he was promised that Manipur would keep its internal autonomy (the right to run its own internal affairs).
• Elections (June 1948):
• Under public pressure, the Maharaja held elections.
• Manipur became a constitutional monarchy: the king remained, but an elected Assembly ruled.

• It was the first part of India to vote under universal adult franchise (every adult can vote, whatever their property, education, caste or sex).

• Divided Assembly: the state Congress wanted to merge with India. Other parties opposed merger.

• Manipur Merger Agreement:
• Delhi persuaded the Maharaja to sign it. He signed reluctantly [12].
• Signed 21 September 1949; came into force 15 October 1949.
• The elected Legislative Assembly was not consulted and gave no consent.
• This is a lasting grievance in Manipur and a root of later anger (→ regional-aspirations).

Manipur's later status

Year	Status	Legal basis
1949-50	Part C state, run by a Chief Commissioner named by the Centre [12]	Merger Agreement 1949; First Schedule, Constitution (1950)
1956	Union Territory, one of six UTs created [12][13]	States Reorganisation Act, 1956; Seventh Amendment, 1956
21 January 1972	Full state with its own elected legislature [12]	North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971

Map work

• NCERT Exercise 3 asks you to locate Junagadh, Manipur, Mysore and Gwalior on a map of India.

Prelims Hooks

• Junagadh plebiscite → 20 February 1948. The people voted overwhelmingly for India, rejecting the Nawab's accession to Pakistan [6].
• 'Arzi Hukumat' → parallel provisional government of Junagadh led by Samaldas Gandhi (1947).
• Operation Polo → 13-18 September 1948, officially a "police action". Nizam surrendered on 17 September 1948 [3][4].
• Razakars → communal militia of the Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen under Qasim Razvi. Trap: they were not the Nizam's regular army.
• Shoebullah Khan → editor of Imroz, killed by the Razakars [9].
• Nizam Osman Ali → Rajpramukh of Part B state Hyderabad until 1956 [10].
• First election under universal adult franchise in India → Manipur, June 1948. Trap: not the 1951-52 general election.
• Manipur Merger Agreement → signed 21 September 1949, effective 15 October 1949, without the elected Assembly's consent.
• Manipur statehood → 21 January 1972 [12]. Path: Part C state → UT (1956) → state.
• Kashmir Instrument of Accession → 26 October 1947, signed by Maharaja Hari Singh.

Mains Points

• Popular will vs ruler's choice: India used the people's will in Junagadh (plebiscite) but the ruler's signature in Kashmir. In Hyderabad it used force after a popular movement and the Razakar violence. This shows how pragmatic and case-by-case integration was. Useful for GS-I questions on how consistent and legitimate Patel's integration policy was.
• Force and democracy: Operation Polo freed the people from the Nizam's rule and the Razakars. Then the Nizam was kept on as Rajpramukh [10] and a popular ministry came only in 1952 [11]. India's approach mixed coercion with accommodating the old rulers.
• Democratic deficit in Manipur: Manipur had India's first universal-franchise election (1948), yet its merger in 1949 bypassed the elected Assembly. This weakened the legitimacy of the merger and fed later regional movements and demands about identity and autonomy in the North-East.
• Social roots of integration: the Telangana armed struggle (1946-51) shows that integration also meant land and caste questions, not just borders. Land reforms and the CPI's turn to parliamentary politics show how Indian democracy absorbed armed movements.