Dethroned #6: Becoming Footnotes in History

What did all those princes do post-independence? Several of them joined politics. Their success rate (getting elected) was very high, at 80%, writes John Zubrzycki in Dethroned.

“(They) were able to exploit traditional ties based on rank, caste and economic dependence.”

 

At first, they aligned with the Congress, to ensure their privy purses and privileges remained. But with success, the bitterness that some felt, the betrayal of some promises, led several to switch sides. Vijayaraje Scindia was the most prominent switch. She even “ruled” over ten parliamentary constituencies, where nobody could win unless she “approved” them. Many of the erstwhile princes of Orrisa, Gujarat and Rajasthan also fought and won elections against the Congress. Gayatri Devi from Jaipur won by the largest margin (at that time).

 

Nehru, never a fan of privy purses, had, from 1953 onwards (after Patel’s death), tried coaxing the princes to voluntarily give it up. He argued that giving so much money to a “functionless group” could not be justified on any moral, social or political ground. While none of the princes agreed, several did begin to sense the likely events of the future. As one prince said:

“This money is very little (for a nation), but politically it is worth to our enemies.”

The privy purse was halved for the descendant of the ruler, but it remained untouched for the ruler during his/her lifetime.

 

Gayatri Devi was a classmate of Indira Gandhi! Devi would smoke cigarettes, brag about her heritage and riches… none of that went down well with young Indira (She would get her revenge by locking up Gayatri during the Emergency). Indira embraced her father’s disdain for the princes, and in addition, they were becoming a political threat (It was a zero-sum game: if the princes won, the Congress lost). They began to be seen as a “dangerous group” by the party. Indira wanted to abolish the privy purse, but how? Remember, it was baked into the Constitution, which meant it needed two-thirds vote to change it.

 

Officially, the reason given was that it was wasteful, undeserved, and undemocratic. Spooked and in panic, one of the princes appealed to Mountbatten to put international pressure on India to honour its commitment. Who appealed to the Commonwealth Office out of a “deep sense of personal responsibility” and even wrote to Indira. She capitalized on the blunders by both men – the letter was leaked and cited as evidence of the British still meddling in India, and of how the princes’ loyalty still lay with Britain.

 

With such momentum, the Indira government, though a minority government, introduced a bill to amend the Constitution on privy purses. The bill sailed through the lower house with a 336 – 155 vote (most parties sensed the public mood). But it failed to get the two-thirds majority in the Rajya Sabha.

 

An emergency meeting of the Cabinet was called to find another way. Well, the President had the power to recognize and derecognize a prince. VV Giri promptly derecognized the princes. A court case was filed by the princes challenging the decision. The Supreme Court ruled 9-2. In favour of the princes.

 

12 days after the verdict, Indira called for early elections. Her plank consisted of two items, nationalizing the banks (to make socialism and vote winning easier) and abolishing the privy purses. She won a thumping majority and had her two-thirds majority. But before she could move in for the kill, a massive crisis erupted. The East Pakistan (Bangladesh) genocide had set off a massive refugee influx into India. Well, India went to war and created Bangladesh, and Indira was at the peak of her popularity. Now, she abolished the privy purses. And with that:

“The rights and rituals of a cobwebbed past were now relegated to the status of historical footnotes, just like the Raj had been a quarter of a century earlier.”