White Paper on Indian States (1950)/Part 4/Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's Statement of 5th July 1947
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's Statement of 5th July 1947.
76. On the day the States Department came into being, i.e., 5th July, 1947, the Hon'ble Sardar Patel, Member for States Department, issued an important statement (Appendix V), defining the policy of the Government of India, and inviting the States to accede to the Dominion on the three subjects of Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications, in which the common interests of the country were involved. He assured the States that it would not be the policy of the States Department to conduct the relations with the States in any manner which savoured of the domination of one over the other; and that if there would be any domination, it would be the domination of mutual interests and welfare. Sardar Patel expressed the hope that the Indian States would bear in mind that the alternative to cooperation in the general interest was anarchy and chaos which would over-whelm great and small in a common ruin if the States and Provinces were unable to act together in the minimum of common tasks.
77. The position, as it stood when the States Department cane into existence, was that the Political Department had already sent to the Rulers a draft Standstill Agreement and it was proposed to call conference of Rulers to finalise the Agreement. But having regard to the paramount necessity of the establishment of a constitutional relationship, however tenuous, between the States and the Dominion, the Government of India felt that a Standstill Agreement would not provide any kind of answer to the problem that confronted them at the time. It was, therefore, decided that the States Department, and not the Political Department, should take charge of the negotiations with the Rulers and that the accession of the States on the three essential subjects of Defence, External Affairs and Communications should be included in the agenda of the proposed Conference.
APPENDIX V
Sardar Patel's Statement of 5th July 1947 on Indian States
It was announced some days back that the Government of India had decided to get up a Department to conduct their relations with the States in matters of common concern. This Department has come into being today and the States have been informed to this effect. On this important occasion I have a few words to say to the Rulers of Indian States among whom I am happy to count many as my personal friends.
It is the lesson of history that it was owing to her political fragmented condition and our inability to make a united stand that India succumbed to successive waves of invaders. Our mutual conflicts, and internecine quarrels and jealousies have in the past been the cause of our downfall and our falling victims to foreign domination a number of times. We cannot afford to fall into those errors or traps again. We are on the threshold of independence. It is true that we have not been able to preserve the unity of the country entirely unimpaired in the final stage. To the bitter disappointment and sorrow of many of us some parts have chosen to go out of India and to set up their own Government. But there can be no question that despite this separation a fundamental homogeneity of culture and sentiment reinforced by the compulsive logic of mutual interests would continue to govern us. Much more would this be the case with that vast majority of States which owing to their geographical contiguity and indissoluble ties, economic, cultural and political, must continue to maintain relations of mutual friendship and co-operation with the rest of India. The safety and preservation of these States as well as of India demand unity and mutual co-operation between its different parts.
When the British established their rule in India they evolved the doctrine of paramountcy which established the supremacy of British interests. That doctrine has remained undefined to this day, but in its exercise there has undoubtedly been more subordination than co-operation. Outside the field of paramountcy there has been a very wide scope in which relations between British India and the States have been regulated by enlightened mutual interests. Now that British rule is ending, the demand has been made that the States should regain their independence. In so far as paramountcy embodied the submission of States to foreign will, I have every sympathy with this demand, but I do not think it can be their desire to utilise this freedom from domination in a manner which is injurious to the common interests of India or which militates against the ultimate paramountcy of popular interests and welfare or which might result in the abandonment of that mutually useful relationship that has developed between British India and Indian States during the last century. This has been amply demonstrated by the fact that a great majority of Indian States have already come into the Constituent Assembly. To those who have not done so, I appeal that they should join now. The States have already accepted the basic principle that for Defence, Foreign Affairs and Communications they would come into the Indian Union. We ask no more of them than accession on these three subjects in which the common interests of the country are involved. In other matters we would scrupulously respect their autonomous existence.
This country with its institutions is the proud heritage of the people who inhabit it. It is an accident that some live in the States and some in British India, but all alike partake of its culture and character. We are all knit together by bonds of blood and feeling no less than of self-interest. None can segregate us into segments; no impassable barriers can be set up between us. I suggest that it is therefore better for us to make laws sitting together as friends than to make treaties as aliens. I invite my friends, the Rulers of States and their people to the Councils of Constituent Assembly in this spirit of friendliness and co-operation in a joint endeavour, inspired by common allegiance to our motherland for the common good of us all.
There appears a great deal of misunderstanding about the attitude of the Congress towards the States. I should like to make it clear that it is not the desire of the Congress to interfere in any manner whatever with the domestic affairs of the States. They are no enemies of the Princely Order, but, on the other hand, wish them and their people under this ægies all prosperity, contentment and happiness. Nor would it be my policy to conduct the relations of the new Department with the States in any manner which savours of the domination of one over the other; if there would be any domination, it would be that of our mutual interests and welfare. We have no ulterior motive or selfish interests to serve. Our common objective should be to understand each other's point of view and come to decisions acceptable to all and in the best interests of the country. With this object, I propose to explore the possibility of associating with the administration of the new Department, a Standing Committee representative of both the States and British India.
We are at a momentous stage in the history of India. By common endeavour we can raise the country to a new greatness while lack of unity will expose us to fresh calamities. I hope the Indian States will bear in mind that the alternative to co-operation in the general interest is anarchy and chaos which will overwhelm great and small in a common ruin if we are unable to act together in the minimum of common tasks. Let not the future generation curse us for having had the opportunity but failed to turn it to our mutual advantage. Instead, let it be our proud privilege to leave a legacy of mutually beneficial relationship which would raise this Sacred Land to its proper place amongst the nations of the world and turn it into an abode of peace and prosperity.