struggle for independence was not yet
over. There were many princely states in
India. These princely states had the right
to either merge with India or remain
independent. Therefore the Congress dream
of undivided India remained incomplete.
Due to independent princely states, India
was going to be fragmented into many
parts. The Portuguese and French powers
had not withdrawn their control over some
parts of India, but the country solved these
problems very firmly. This chapter will
deal with the information on it.
Integration of princely states in
India : There were more than six hundred
small and big
princely states in
India. Due to the
influence of non-cooperation movement,
there was beginning
of political
awakening among
the princely states.
Praja Mandals came
to be formed in the
princely states. Praja
Mandal means people’s organisation that
worked for the interest of the people in
the princely states and for securing
political rights for them. In 1927, such
Praja Mandals came together and formed
an ‘All India States People’s Conference’.
Due to it, the movement in princely states
got an impetus. After the independence of
India the then Home Minister Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel very diplomatically
found out the way of merging the princely
states in India. He took the rulers of the
princely states into confidence and
prepared an ‘Instrument of Accession’,
acceptable to all.
Sardar Patel convinced the princely
rulers the benefit of merging into India.
The rulers gave good response to his
appeal. All the princely states merged
into India, except the state of Junagad,
Hyderabad and Kashmir. Sardar Patel
took a firm stand and solved the issue of
merger of princely states.
Merging of Junagad : Junagad was
a princely state in Saurashtra. The people
there wanted to be merged with India. But
the Nawab of Junagad was thinking of
joining Pakistan. The people strongly
opposed his decision and the Nawab left
for Pakistan. Later in February 1948,
Junagad got merged into India.
Hyderabad Mukti Sangram :
Hyderabad was the largest princely state
in India. It included Telegu, Kannada and
Marathi speaking regions. There was the
autocratic rule of the
Nizam over these
provinces. There was
absence of civil and
political rights. To
secure these rights,
the people formed
organisations such as
Andhra Parishad in
the Telangana region,
Maharashtra Parishad
in the Marathwada
region, Karnataka Parishad in the
Karnataka region. In 1938, Swami
Ramananda Tirth formed the Hyderabad
State Congress. The Nizam banned this
organisation. A struggle began for getting
recognition to Hyderabad State Congress
and democratic rights. This struggle was
led by a militant fighter Swami Ramananda
Tirth. He was assisted by Narayan Reddy
and Siraj-ul-Hasan Tirmiji. P.V.Narsimha
Rao and Govindbhai Shroff were the
faithful followers of Swamiji.
In July 1947, Hyderabad State
Congress passed a resolution for merger
of Hyderabad state into India. The Nizamhowever took an anti-India stand.
He started making movements for
merging of Hyderabad state with Pakistan.
To reject the demand of people of
Hyderabad to be merged with India,
Kasim Rizvi, an associate of the Nizam,
formed an organisation known as
‘Razakar’. Kasim Rizvi and his associates
not only oppressed the hindus but also the
muslims who supported the democratic
movement. Due to it, there was
inflammation of public opinion. The
Government of India tried to negotiate
patiently with the Nizam but he refused
to respond. At last, the Indian government
started the police action against the
Nizam on 13 September 1948. It was
symbolically named as ‘Operation Polo’.
Finally, the Nizam surrendered on 17
September 1948 and the state of Hyderabad
was merged within India. The struggle of
people in the princely state became
successful. There was significant
contribution of ‘Arya Samaj’ in this
movement.
Contribution of Marathwada in the
struggle for liberation of Hyderabad :
In this struggle Swami Ramananda Tirth,
Govindbhai Shroff, Anant Bhalerao,
Ashatai Waghmare, Manikchand Pahade
etc. made a valuable contribution.
Through the movement of ‘Vande
Mataram’, students participated in the
struggle for liberation of Hyderabad.
Similarly, in this struggle Ved Prakash,
Shyamlal, Govind Pansare, Bahirji Shinde,
Shridhar Vartak, Janardan Mama, Shoaib
Ullah Khan etc. embraced martyrdom.
Their sacrifice proved to be inspirational
to the Indians. Thus we can understand
that the leaders and the people in
Marathwada had a lion’s share in the
struggle for liberation of Hyderabad.
17 September is celebrated as
‘Marathwada Mukti Din’ in Marathwada
to commemorate the struggle for liberation
of Hyderabad. Marathwada was not
included in Free India on 15 August 1947.
After the inspiring struggle of the people,
this region was included in independent
India in 1948.
Problem of Kashmir : Hari Singh,
the ruler of State of Kashmir, had decided
to remain independent. Pakistan had
intended to secure the merger of Kashmir
with Pakistan. Due to this Pakistan started
putting pressure on Hari Singh. At the
instigation of Pakistan, armed intruders
attacked Kashmir in October 1947. At
that time Hari Singh signed the ‘Instrument
of Accession’ with India. In this manner,
after merging into India, Indian army was
sent for the defense of Kashmir. The
army won back a major portion of
Kashmir from the possession of intruders.
But some part of it remained in the
possession of Pakistan.
Merger of French Colonies : Even
after the independence of India, the regions
of Chandranagar, Puduchcheri, Karaikal,
Mahe and Yanam were in the possession
of the French. The Indian natives there,
were eager to get merged with India. The
Indian Government demanded that these
territories being a part of India should be
handed over to it.
In 1949 France held a plebiscite in
Chandranagar. The people voted for India.
Chandranagar was handed over to India.
Thereafter France handed over the rest of
the territories to the Government of India.
Struggle for liberation of Goa :
Portugal denied to hand over the territories
under its possession to India. Indians had
to struggle for securing these territories.
In this struggle, Dr.T.B.Kunha was in the
forefront. He worked to bring about an
awakening of the people against the
Portuguese Government. With the objective
of building struggle against the Portuguese,
he established the Goa CongressCommittee. Later in
1945, Dr. Kunha
founded the
organisation ‘Goa
Youth League’ in
Mumbai. In 1946,
he went to Goa and
violated the ban on
public speech. For
this he was
sentenced to eight
years of imprisonment. In 1946, Dr. Ram
Manohar Lohiya started a Satyagraha for
liberation of Goa. Violating the ban, he
delivered a public speech at Madgaon in
Goa. For this the Portuguese Government
deported him.
During the same period, the ‘Azad
Gomantak Dal’ was founded to liberate
Portuguese colonies of Dadra and Nagar
Haveli in Gujarat. On 2 August 1954,
youths of Azad Gomantak Dal by making
an armed attack liberated the territories
of Dadra and Nagar Haveli from
Portuguese rule. Vishwanath Lavande,
Rajabhau Wakankar, Sudhir Phadke,
Nanasaheb Kajrekar and others took part
in this attack.
In 1954, Goa Mukti Samiti was
formed. The Samiti sent many batches of
satyagrahis from Maharashtra to Goa.
N.G.Gore, Senapati Bapat, Peter Alvares,
Mahadevshastri Joshi and his wife Sudhatai
and many others participated in the
satyagraha. Mohan Ranade was an
aggressive leader in this struggle for
liberation of Goa. The Portuguese rulers
committed unlimited tyranny and atrocities
on the satygrahis. Due to this the public
opinion became more infuriated.
The struggle for liberation of Goa took
up a fierce form. The Indian Government
was patiently holding negotiations with the
Portuguese Government but they did not
respond. At the end, the Indian Government
unwillingly took the decision of using
military force. In December 1961, the
Indian Army entered Goa. In a short
period of time, the Portuguese army
surrendered. On 19 December 1961, Goa
was liberated from Portuguese dominion.
Imperialism was completely rooted out
from the Indian soil. India’s freedom
struggle was truly fulfilled.
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