Princely States #2: Mirror Image Scenarios

Let us go in detail into a couple of princely states and their tales of “dethronement” (it’s the title of another book dedicated to the topic, I decided to use that term). Or as Sam Dalrymple puts it in Shattered Lands:

“There is arguably no other revolution in world history that ended so many monarchies in so short a span of time.”

~~

 

Junagadh first. It had “neither the romance of Kashmir, nor the opulent wealth of Hyderabad”, yet being close to Gujarat, it carried an emotional connect to Gandhi, Patel and Jinnah (all Gujaratis, remember?). Its ruler was a Muslim; the majority of his subjects were Hindu. The Nawab, based on assurances from Jinnah, decided to join Pakistan.

 

But India was keen to prevent this for multiple reasons, including the presence of Somnath and Dwarka in it. Upon learning of the decision to join Pakistan, Home Minister Patel sent forces to surround Junagadh. Coal and petroleum couldn’t enter, the phone lines were all tapped. As its economy began to collapse, riots started. Many Hindus started moving out, and Muslims who felt unsafe in nearby areas started moving in. Pakistan’s stance indicated an all-out war was a possibility. But India wasn’t keen (ready?) for a war.

 

VP Menon engineered a complication. Junagadh had four vassal states whose status had never been quite clear. Menon bribed the ruler of one of them and got him to accede to India. The Nawab got jittery and ordered his troops to enter one of the other vassal states. Various groups started claiming other parts as theirs. It was chaos. By now, it was clear Pakistan wouldn’t intervene militarily. The Nawab fled, and Pakistan gave up – they called for a plebiscite to be held. A Hindu majority state, unsurprisingly, voted to join India. (Many of the Nawab’s family stayed on in India; the actress Parveen Babi was a descendant).

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Next up, Baluchistan. Back then, it was a confederation of tribes and chieftains. The most important sub-part of it was Kalat. They wanted to be independent. In October, 1947, Jinnah began to pressurize Kalat to join Pakistan. He employed the same techniques India had in Junagadh. He approached a few vassal states and recognized them as independent, effectively splintering Kalat from half its territory, resources and coastline. Then the Pakistani forces entered those states under the guise of maintaining law and order. An invasion of the rest of Kalat looked imminent. At this point, out of thin air, All India Radio reported Kalat had acceded to India! This was entirely false – the Khan of Kalat had no intention of joining either country. But now he was forced to pick a side as chaos and anger emerged – he picked Pakistan. The other chieftains felt betrayed as they had not been consulted. Along with the Khan’s brother, they fled to Afghanistan.

“Decades of insurgency in Baluchistan had begun.”

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