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The Indian States. The origins of the problem

The Indian States. The origins of the problem The relationship between the Indian States and the British and the ambiguity between the two The hostility of the nationalist movement towards the Indian states

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The Indian States. The origins of the problem

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  1. The Indian States. The origins of the problem • The relationship between the Indian States and the British and the ambiguity between the two • The hostility of the nationalist movement towards the Indian states • The Cripps offer of 1942 is based on the idea of a federation between Indian provinces and the states

  2. The British hope that the states will accept the federation, still they had to respect the right of the princes to stay out of the federation • The British knew that the Congress would not accept the independence of the states • In February ‘46 the British announce the end of the Paramountcy over the states • The consequence is the ambiguity over the destiny of the states

  3. After the Cabinet Mission of 1946 the princes declare to refuse to enter the Constituent Assembly unless they receive assurances by the Congress • Mountbatten declares that the Partition plan applies only to the provinces and that the states are free to decide their destiny • However he understands that the position of the states can be the key to have to acceptance of the partition plan from the Congress • Moreover Mountbatten was worried by the possible balkanization of India

  4. The accession policy of the Congress was directed two key figures: Vallabhbhai Patel and his secretary V.P. Menon • The overall policy was aggressively aimed at curbing the rights of the states and absorbing them into the Indian Union, exploiting the political naivety of the princes and the support of Mountbatten • The initial strategy: limited accession, Defence, Foreign Rel. and communications

  5. Most of the states accepted by August ‘47, some of them (Muslim princes, Bhopal, Mysore) decided to wait • The Viceroy and the Congress made pressure on them • At the end all of them accepted except Kashmir, Hyderabad and Junagadh • After different kinds of pressure, Hyderabad and Junagadh were invaded by the Indian army between October ‘47 and September ‘48

  6. The second phase of the accession process took place after independence, when the Congress step after step cancelled all the rights of the states; violating de facto the previous pacts • The Kashmir question remained as the only unsolved question

  7. The origins of the problem • The artificial character of the state • The political situation inside the State of Kashmir: the Muslim conference of Shaikh Abdullah • The uneasy position of the Maharaja between the Congress and Pakistan

  8. Why was Kashmir so important for both India and Pakistan? • The Standstill agreement and its failure • The invasion of Poonch and the decision of the Maharaja to accede to India • The war and its consequences • The ONU ceasefire of 1949

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