White Paper on Indian States (1950)/Part 12/Separatist Trends encouraged by Theory of Personal Contract
Separatist Trends Encouraged by Theory of Personal Contract
260. The new concept encouraged separatist trends and obstructionist tactics in Princely quarters. Coupland comparing the attitude of the Princes with that of the Muslim League observed "but there can be no doubt that they (Princes) would insist quite as firmly on disrupting India rather than accept an all-India system of government which over-rode their rights and put them at the mercy of the Congress and the High Command". "Nor would it be" he went on to say, "reasonable on the British Government's part to rule that out". No wonder that fed on such theories, the Princes subscribed, even so late as the eve of the Cripps Mission, to the policy embodied in the following resolution unanimously adopted by the Chamber of Princes:—
"That this Chamber has repeatedly made it clear that any scheme to be acceptable to the States must effectively protect their rights, arising from the Treaties, Engagements, and Sanads or otherwise and ensure the future existence, sovereignty and autonomy of the States thereunder guaranteed and leave them complete freedom duly to discharge their obligations to the Crown and to their subjects; it therefore notes with particular satisfaction the reference in the announcement of the Prime Minister to the fulfilment of the Treaty obligations to the Indian States".
It would be wrong to assume that this resolution really represented the unanimous wishes of the Princes; it was only an indication of the complex which rendered it impossible for Princes to think of India freed from the foreign yoke, or of a constitutional relationship with the Government at the Centre in which the Crown did not find a place.