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Unifying post partition India and the princely states under one administration was perhaps the most important task faced by then political leadership. In colonial India, nearly 40% of the territory was occupied by five hundred sixty five small and large states ruled by princes who enjoyed varying degrees of autonomy under the system of British Paramountcy. British power protected them from their own people as also from external aggression so long as they did British bidding.
As the British left, many of 565 princely states, began to dream of independence. They had claimed that the paramountcy could not be transferred to the new states of India and Pakistan. The ambitions were fuelled by the then British PM Clement Attlee announcement on Feb 20, 1947 that "His Majesty's Government does not intend to hand over their powers and obligations under paramountcy to any government of British India".
With great skill and masterful diplomacy and using both persuasion and pressure, Sardar Patel succeeded in integrating the hundreds of princely states. Few princely states joined Constituent Assembly with wisdom & realism, but other princely states still stayed away from joining it. Princely states of Travancore, Bhopal, and Hyderabad publicly announced their desire to claim an independent status.
On June 27, 1947, Sardar Patel assumed additional charge of the newly created states department with V.P. Menon as its Secretary.
The government's approach was guided by three considerations:
1. The people of most of the princely states clearly wanted to become part of the Indian Union.
2. The government was prepared to be flexible in giving autonomy to some regions. The idea was to accommodate plurality & adopt a flexible approach in dealing with the demands of the regions.
3. In the back drop of Partition, the integration and consolidation of the territorial boundaries of the nation had assumed supreme importance.
Patel threw a series of lunch parties where he requested his princely guests to help the Congress in framing the new constitution for India. Patel's first step was to appeal to the princes whose territories fell inside India to accede to the Indian Union in three subjects which affected the common interests of the country, namely, foreign relations, defence and communications. He also gave an implied threat he would not be able to restrain the impatient people post August 15, 1947. States were issued an appeal with an implied threat of anarchy and chaos.
Next step of Patel was to convince Mountbatten to bat for India. 25th July speech of Mountbatten to the Chamber of Princes finally persuaded the Princes. This speech ranked as the most significant Act of Mountbatten in India. After this, virtually all the states except 3 signed the instrument of accession.
One was Travancore under the Maharaja of Travancore Chithira Thirunal but the real ruler was its Diwan C. P. Ramaswamy Aiyyer. There was an attack on C. P. Aiyyar, and after that it was Maharaja of Travancore which wired the government that they are ready for accession.
Jodhpur-, it’s accession was a serious issue due to its proximity to border. The young king was also being wooed by but after tremendous pressure from Patel, finally he signed the Instrument of accession to India.
Bhopal- Mainly hindu population and ruler was Habibullah Khan supported by Jinnah. There was a revolt against the Bhopal ruler, he faced pressure from Patel and common population and finally he signed the Instrument of Accession.
Thus before August 15, 1947 peaceful negotiations has brought almost all states whose territories were contiguous to the new boundaries of India, into the Indian Union. The rulers of most of the states signed a document called the "Instrument of Accession" which meant that their state agreed to become a part of the Union of India.
Accession of the princely states of Junagadh, Hyderabad, Kashmir and Manipur proved more