White Paper on Indian States (1950)/Part 12/Inherent Impracticability of Lapse of Paramountcy
Inherent Impracticability of Lapse of Paramountcy
262. The Cabinet Mission's Memorandum on Paramountcy and subsequent declarations recognised the inherent impracticability of the decision whereby all links between the States and the Central Government were to terminate at one stroke of the pen. The British spokesmen endeavoured to mitigate the evils of this decision by advising the States to link their lot with the Dominion and recognised that federal or political relationship between the States and the Centre was inevitable. Lord Mountbatten, speaking at a Conference of the Princes on July 25, 1947, said "that link (with the British Crown) is now to be broken. If nothing can be put in its place, only chaos can result".
It is a plain fact that an India broken into hundreds of independent entities would have inevitably lapsed speedily into a state of chaos. An India hopelessly divided against herself could in no way discharge the responsibilities which her strategic position no less than her moral heritage imposed on her. Far from being a stabilising factor such an India would have only proved a menace to world peace. Public opinion in India viewed this contingency with grave concern.
In justification of the decision for the lapse of paramountcy it was stated that the main purpose of this decision was to strengthen the bargaining capacity of the Rulers. Without doubt this bargaining had to be at the expense of either the basic rights of the people of the States or the collective interests of the Indian people as a whole. Be that as it may, the long-awaited Independence came to India associated with a threat of imminent chaos as a result of partition and the contemplated lapse of Central authority over a third of India.