And this is how Sardar Patel Materialised the Unity of India

Mahatma Gandhi told Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel that, “The problem of the States is so difficult that you alone can solve it.” Patel became the knight in the shining armour when the country faced the biggest problem left by the British while departing India- more than 550 Princely States. The ‘iron man of India’, Sardar Patel was valued on the one hand for being politically astute and on the other hand for his pragmatic acumen, necessary to bring together more than 500 bits and pieces of royal territories into the fold of the Indian Union.

In 1947, Princely States numbering 555 covered 48 per cent of the area of pre-Independent India and constituted 28 per cent of its population. Legally, the Princely States were not a part of British India and the people of these states were not treated as British subjects. But, in reality, they were completely subordinate to the British Crown.

The Indian Independence Act, 1947, provided for the lapse of paramountcy of the British Crown over the Indian states. Each ruler had the option to accede to the dominion of India or Pakistan or continue as an independent sovereign mini-state. The rulers were often seen, perhaps rightly, as lackeys and stooges of the British Empire. Even in the “mutiny” of 1857, many of them actively assisted the British. Lord Canning acknowledged their role as “breakwaters in the storm which would have swept over us in one great wave.”

Incidentally, Patel was also the first Congress statesman to have supported Partition as the most viable solution to Muslim separatist movement in India. On June 27, 1947, he was made the Minister in charge of the new States Department. He, along with his secretary Menon was given the task of negotiating with the Princes. Between them, they produced a draft instrument of accession which would be signed by the Princes as an agreement to transfer control of the defence, foreign affairs and communications to the Congress Government.

Patel often invoked the patriotism of the Princes in his attempt to convince them to join India. On other occasions, he reminded them of the possibility of anarchy on the event of their refusal to join. He also introduced the concept of ‘Privy Purses’ as a payment to be made to the families of the Princes for their agreement to integrate with India.

The negotiation over the instrument of accession in the case of each Princely State is an intriguing story. All the varying craft of diplomacy were used! Constitutional negotiations, promising benefits, stroking patriotism, threats and even action by armed forces had to be used to consolidate the unity of India.

In consideration of their agreeing to integrate with India, the Princes were to be paid a Privy Purse, which was approximately 8.5 per cent of the annual revenue of each Princely State. The amounts varied from Rs 43 lakh a year to the Nizam of Hyderabad to just Rs 192 a year to the ruler of Katodia. Of the 555 rulers, 398 were to get less than Rs 50,000 a year. The total cost to the Indian exchequer in 1947 was Rs 6 crore, which was to be progressively reduced. At the time of abolition in 1970, the total amount payable to all the erstwhile Princes was just Rs 4 crore a year.

Through his diplomatic manoeuvres, Sardar Patel secured accession of all the States before August 15, 1947, before they could be made independent at par with India and Pakistan, thereby gaining equal status. As the day of independence drew closer, Patel decided on using force where necessary, for instance in the case of the Maharaja of Orissa. The exceptions were those of Junagarh and Hyderabad- Kashmir too, but those were under Nehru’s charge. Junagarh was a Princely State situated in the Kathiawad peninsula in south-west Gujarat. This princely state was ruled by a Muslim Nawab Mohbat Khan though the majority of its population was Hindu. Though the land boundary of Junagarh was not attached to Pakistan, the Nawab of Junagarh argued that Pakistan could be reached from Junagarh through sea route. Nawab MohbatKhan and his Dewan Shahnawaj Bhutto dreamt of merging Junagarh with Pakistan. However, they were to deal with a nationalist and patriot like Patel, and not some other internationalist like Nehru who could mess up things as he did in Kashmir.

Kashmir had been taken away from Patel’s charge by Nehru under Sheikh Abdullah’s pressure. Had he been given the charge of Kashmir this issue would have been most probably solved years ago or would not have created as much problem as we are facing today. In his eulogy, delivered the day after Patel’s death, Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of External Affairs, paid tribute to “a great patriot, a great administrator and a great man. Sardar Patel was all three, a rare combination in any historic epoch and any country.”