There were about 562 Princely states in India before British started packing their bags. Some of these states were as big as France while others were as small as a small city. Out of these 562 states, 554 states merged with India while remaining states merged with Pakistan.
'The Story Of The Integration Of Indian States' is the account of this mammoth task of nation building taken by the newly formed States Department headed by Sardar Patel with V. P. Menon as his secretary. Written in a lucid style, this book is a mine of information surrounding this very important process of integration. Patel was a modern incarnation of Chanakya and with his perseverance and ingenuity he made sure that all states acceded to India before his death. The festering problem of Kashmir is not his legacy as this accession was made conditional by Mountbatten and Pt. Nehru.
Though stories of the merger of all states are equally interesting but the cases of Baroda, Junagadh, Jodhpur, Hyderabad and Jammu & Kashmir are very intriguing.
Though Baroda was one of the first states to accede to India but later its ruler HH Pratap Singh started showing tantrums and he was eventually de-recognized as the ruler of Baroda state by the President of India in 1951. Junagadh was the only state within the boundary of India that acceded to Pakistan. India had to play a patient game of statesmanship integrate this state with India. Hyderabad was the largest Princely state of India and Nizam Mohsin Khan Asaf Jah tried all out to exploit its humongous size. He even went to UN to internationalize the issue but the Police action in Sept 1948 (code name - Operation Polo) commanded by Major General J. N. Chaudhury liberated the people of Hyderabad from the tyranny of Razakars of Qasim Rizwi.
India could not make the integration of Jammu and Kashmir smooth though we played a fair game. There were five major reasons behind this - its border with Pakistan, its demography, its ruler, the tribal invasion of Jammu and Kashmir sponsored by Pakistan and Indian diplomacy. Due to delay caused by the reluctance of Mountbatten to aid Jammu and Kashmir against Pakistan before Maharaja signing Instrument of Accession, we lost about 40% of Jammu and Kashmir territory. The story of Kashmir is a saga of betrayal (Muslim soldiers of J&K regiment stationed at Muzaffarabad betrayed and killed their officers and fellow soldiers), unprecedented bravery (Brigadier Rajinder Singh with his 150 odd soldiers halted the advance of marauders for full three days) and botched diplomacy (with Nehru taking this case to UN). When the promise of plebiscite was not given to any other state why it was given to this state; even now this remains a weak point in our defence of Kashmir.
A must read book and thank you V. P. Menon for writing this; Sardar and you are the true architects of India.
Highly Recommended (10/10)
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