Breaking the royal rule
Kamlesh Mohan

People's Movements in the Princely States.
by Y. Vaikuntham. Manohar Publishers. Pages 246. Rs 500.

THIS book, product of a seminar held in 1994 (funded by the Indian Council of Historical Research, New Delhi), covers the rise and growth of the people's movements in a number of princely states, namely Hyderabad, Mysore, Jammu and Kashmir, Gwalior, Travancore and two small states-Nilgiri in Orissa and Banaganballe in Andhra Pradesh.

The princely states in Punjab, where the Praja Mandal movement was the most well organised and effective, are conspicuous by their absence in this edited volume. These states shared many common features: centralisation of power in the hands of rulers, ruthless repression of civil liberties of their subjects, growing aspirations of the people in terms of socio-economic development and association/representation in political bodies and administration.

Six articles focus upon the princely states of Hyderabad, two are concerned with Mysore and one with a comparative study of Hyderabad and Mysore. The other native states form the subject of the remaining seven articles.

The binding thread of the volume is the people's movement, which has been discussed from three angles: struggle for responsible/constitutional government, peasant resistance against economic exploitation and confiscation or misappropriation of land and women's participation in social, political and agrarian movements.

In one way or the other, gradual alignment of the discontented peasantry with local political activists and social reformers against feudal modes of control and reactionary practices, demand for accountability and for participatory and constitutional government is visible in the triangular struggle, whether spearheaded by local Congress or communist leaders. The subjects of Nizam had been obliged to confront three adversaries-their autocratic and wily ruler, Razakars of the Ittehad-ul-Mussalmeen (established in 1927) and the British imperialists.

The Indian National Congress, which held its session at Tripura in March, 1939, announced its new policy towards the princely states, which involved its support to political activity, including direct action and pressure upon the princes to establish responsible governments in the states. Henceforth, there was no distinction between British India and princely states as far as Congress activity was concerned. It is evident from the extensive mobilisation and active participation of students and labourers in the Quit India Movement, despite indiscriminate firing and arrests.

It is revealing that Isur, a village in the Shimoga district, was the vibrant centre of daily meetings in the 1942 struggle. The villagers established a parallel government for some time in September.

The volume is a substantial addition to the growing research-based publications on one of the less explored aspects of politics in the princely states. Its merit lies in constructing linkages between the people's struggle against autocratic rulers for a responsible welfare state and the nationwide anti-imperialist freedom movement in the British India. The book would have been more valuable if the introductory essay had provided a conceptual framework of the movement and its historiography. This would have enabled the reader to understand the people's movement in a comparative perspective.

HOME