Popular Movements in Princely States

Popular movements in the Indian princely states developed alongside the freedom struggle in British-administered provinces. Covering over two-fifths of the Indian subcontinent’s land area and one-third of its population, more than 500 princely states operated under local monarchs backed by British Paramountcy. While British provinces received gradual legislative reforms, subjects in princely states lacked basic civil liberties, representative assemblies, and independent judiciaries. Through local Praja Mandals, peasant associations, and social reform groups, these popular movements mobilized communities to demand constitutional governance, civil rights, and integration with independent India.

Administrative Grievances and Structural Drivers

Economic and Social Exploitation

• Arbitrary Taxation: Rulers imposed heavy land revenue demands alongside cesses known as Lag-Bag.
• Forced Labor Systems: State machinery routinely extracted unpaid compulsory labor, termed Begar or Veth, for royal construction and public works.
• Monopoly Control: Monarchies established monopolies on daily commodities, including salt, food grains, and forest produce, restricting traditional livelihoods.
• Absence of Legal Protection: Executive and judicial powers remained concentrated in monarchical hands, leaving citizens without legal remedies against state oppression.

External Political Influences

• The Non-Cooperation Movement (1920–22) and Civil Disobedience Movement (1930–34) inspired princely subjects to set up organized political forums.
• Nationalist literature and border-town centers helped circulate democratic ideas across enforced princely state boundaries.
• Agrarian struggles, such as the Bijolia movement in Mewar, demonstrated the power of long-term collective resistance.

Institutional Structure: All India States’ People’s Conference (AISPC)

Genesis and Objectives

Local leadership established early platforms like the Rajasthan Seva Sangh (1919) and Kathiawar Political Conference (1921). To unite these regional efforts, leaders formed the All India States’ People’s Conference (AISPC) in December 1927 in Bombay. Key organizers included Balwantrai Mehta, Maniklal Kothari, and G.R. Abhyankar. The AISPC sought representative governance under monarchical heads, independent courts, personal freedoms, and political alignment with British India.

Indian National Congress Policy Shift

• Nagpur Session (1920): Permitted state subjects to join Congress but strictly forbade direct party intervention in internal princely politics.
• Haripura Session (1938): Presided over by Subhash Chandra Bose, Congress declared that the freedom of princely states was essential to national independence, extending moral support to Praja Mandals.
• Ludhiana Session (1939): Jawaharlal Nehru assumed the presidency of the AISPC, establishing operational alignment between the Indian National Congress and the Praja Mandal network.

Prominent Regional Movements and Flashpoints

Major Praja Mandals and Organizations

Key Regional Struggles

• Vidurashwatha Firing (1938): Police fired on peaceful Praja Mandal protesters attempting to hoist the national flag in Kolar district, Mysore, resulting in 32 deaths in an event known as the Jallianwala Bagh of the South.
• The Aundh Experiment (1939): Raja Bhavanrao of Aundh state voluntarily divested monarchical powers, implementing a decentralized constitutional system based on village Panchayats and universal adult franchise.
• The Rajkot Satyagraha (1938–1939): Agitation against Dewan Durbar Virawala’s breach of constitutional reform pacts led to Mahatma Gandhi’s fast unto death and judicial arbitration by Federal Court Chief Justice Sir Maurice Gwyer.
• The Garhjat Resistance in Odisha: Mass protests against feudal cesses led to the martyrdom of 12-year-old boatboy Baji Rout in Dhenkanal in 1938, and the murder of British Political Agent Major Bazalgette in Ranpur in 1939.

Role in National Integration

When British Paramountcy lapsed on August 15, 1947, princely rulers received theoretical freedom to remain independent or accede to either India or Pakistan. Popular mobilization generated by local Praja Mandals made independent ruler rule politically untenable. This grassroots democratic pressure provided essential leverage to Deputy Prime Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel and States Ministry Secretary V.P. Menon during negotiations, securing accession agreements across hundreds of native states.

Key Facts for Revision

• The Jaipur Praja Mandal, founded in 1931 by Kapoori Chand Patni, was the first Praja Mandal formed in Rajasthan.
• Balwantrai Mehta, a key founder of the AISPC in 1927, later headed the committee recommending India’s three-tier Panchayati Raj system.
• Jawaharlal Nehru served as President of the All India States’ People’s Conference from 1939 to 1946.
• Sheikh Abdullah succeeded Jawaharlal Nehru as President of the AISPC in 1946.
• The 1944 Naya Kashmir manifesto of the National Conference outlined a socialist plan for radical land reforms without paying compensation to landlords.
• The mass exodus of over 60,000 peasants from Talcher State in 1938 to protest royal taxes was known as Hijrat.
• Nilgiri State in Odisha became the first princely state taken over by the Government of India on November 14, 1947.
• The AISPC formally dissolved itself on April 25, 1948, merging its regional units into the Indian National Congress.
• The Jammu & Kashmir National Conference was the sole AISPC constituent unit that chose not to merge into the Indian National Congress in 1948.