131. The Disputed States III: Junagadh

At the time of independence, as I have mentioned in my previous two posts, the issue of the accession of hundreds of princely states to India or Pakistan was very important and gave considerable trouble to both countries. In the previous two posts, I discussed some aspects of the Jammu & Kashmir and Hyderabad states. In this post, I shall write about Junagadh. Prior to the independence of India in 1947, Junagadh was a princely state in the Kathiawar region of the present-day state of Gujarat, on the coast of the Arabian Sea. Its foundations were laid in 1654 by Sher Khan Babi, and his descendants ruled this state for the next three centuries. It occupied an area of 8,643 km², and according to the census of 1941 had a population of 671,000, of which 128,000 were Muslims, i.e., 19% of the total population.

In 1947 its ruler was Sir Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III Rasul Khanji (1900–1959). He is famous for his love of animals, particularly dogs. He also worked for the conservation of wildlife and established the Gir Forest protected sanctuary for the endangered Indian lions. 

    Junagadh and other Muslim princely states in Kathiawar. 

At the time of independence, the Nawab decided to accede to Pakistan, and the Government of Pakistan accepted his request for accession on 13 September 1947. However, there were many problems in the way of fully integrating the state into Pakistan. The biggest hurdle was the majority Hindu population of the state, which made up almost 81% of the total population, and no amount of persuasion could have convinced them to join Pakistan. The second problem was its geography, as it lay almost 300 kilometers away from the Pakistani border, deep inside India. Though it was accessible by sea, that was definitely not enough in the given circumstances.

Junagadh and other Muslim princely states in India.

As can be expected, the decision of the Nawab stirred unrest among the Hindu population of the state and raised many concerns in the Indian government. India, being in a much stronger position than Pakistan, brushed aside the legal niceties and intervened with force and took the state under its control in late October 1948. A plebiscite was held on 20 February, 1948, with the following results:

Out of 201,457 registered voters, 190,870 exercised their franchise. Of this number only 91 voted for Pakistan. There was a separate but simultaneous poll in Manavadar, Mangrol, Babariawad and two other feudatories. Out of 31,434 votes cast in these areas, only 39 were for Pakistan.

https://scroll.in/article/884176/patel-wanted-hyderabad-for-india-not-kashmir-but-junagadh-was-the-wild-card-that-changed-the-game

Now the question is: is the issue still alive? I don’t think so. I have never heard any statement in this regard. So, we can say that it is a forgotten and dead issue. But interestingly, there is one institution in Pakistan that has not forgotten it and is keeping the issue alive—the Survey of Pakistan. They still publish maps showing Junagadh as part of Pakistan.. 

A map of Pakistan, published by Survey of Pakistan, showing the Junagadh as part of Pakistan. 

As I expressed earlier, I wish that, like the division of Punjab and Bengal, both sides could have agreed on a clear formula for the accession of the princely states as well. I am sure that with a little effort, all the subsequent conflicts, which continue to plague us even today, could have been avoided.

Tariq Amir

Doha- Qatar

July 20, 2020.

129. The Disputed States I : Jammu & Kashmir (Demographics 1941)

130. The Disputed States II: Hyderabad State (Demographics 1941)

130. The Disputed States II: Hyderabad State (Demographics 1941)

At the time of independence and partition of India, after Kashmir, the princely state which gave the most trouble to India was the State of Hyderabad of His Exalted Highness the Nizam of Hyderabad, Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII. Out of almost 565 states, Hyderabad gave the most trouble to India after Kashmir. It was the largest and wealthiest state, with a population of about 16.34 million and an area of 215,339 km², and the Nizam, the ruler of the state, did not accede to India and tried to remain fully independent.

Muslims had penetrated the Deccan region during the reign of Alauddin Khilji (1296–1316), when his general Malik Kafur reached even the great city of Madurai in 1311, deep in southern Peninsular India. Muslim rulers further consolidated their rule a few decades later when, in 1347, Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah established an independent kingdom with the capital first at Gulbarga and then at Bidar. This kingdom lasted for nearly two centuries and then disintegrated into five successor states: Ahmadnagar, Bidar, Berar, Bijapur, and Golconda. All these states were conquered by Aurangzeb in the late seventeenth century. The last to fall was the Qutb Shahi kingdom of Golconda, which fell with its capital Hyderabad in 1687.

Mughal rule in Hyderabad lasted only three or four decades. With the death of Aurangzeb in 1707, the Mughal Empire went into rapid decline. Mir Qamr-ud-Din Siddiqi, the viceroy, took advantage of the situation and established himself as the independent ruler of the Deccan in 1724, founding the Asaf Jahi dynasty, based in Hyderabad city and controlling vast areas in the Deccan and South India. Militarily, it was never a strong state, and right from the beginning, it depended on the support of first the French and then the British power in India. Ten rulers of this dynasty ruled the state until 1948.

In 1947, Mir Osman Ali Khan was ruling this state. He was confident that with the size and resources of a state like Hyderabad, he could maintain it as an independent country and, unlike other princely states, could avoid joining the Republic of India. Perhaps he did not fully comprehend the geography and demographics of his state and, above all, the winds of change blowing all over India. Indeed, he succeeded for a while, but finally, on 13 September 1948, India invaded the state militarily and occupied it within four days. Under the process of reorganization of Indian states on a linguistic basis, the erstwhile state of Hyderabad was divided among three newly formed Indian states: Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.

In this post, I have presented the details about the demographics of the state. That surely will help in understanding the nature of this state.

No.	Districts	Pop.	Hindus	%	Muslims	%	Christians	%
1	Hyderabad	739,159	365,823	49.49	344,915	46.66	20,839	2.82
2	Atraf-i-Balada	612,493	512,401	83.66	79,011	12.90	5,476	0.89
3	Nizamabad	647,043	552,043	85.32	62,563	9.67	12,451	1.92
4	Medak	758,220	642,047	84.68	82,590	10.89	22,852	3.01
5	Baghat*	90,415	77,288	85.48	11,235	12.43	1,287	1.42
6	Mahbubnagar	1,088,209	930,585	85.52	99,342	9.13	5,185	0.48
7	Nalgonda	1,275,352	1,089,953	85.46	83,324	6.53	25,159	1.97
8	Warangal	1,321,838	984,333	74.47	100,708	7.62	50,196	3.80
9	Karimnagar	1,355,415	1,238,158	91.35	78,143	5.77	21,900	1.62
10	Adilabad	823,622	633,490	76.92	54,831	6.66	9,035	1.10
11	Aurangabad	1,071,950	844,421	78.77	172,211	16.07	16,716	1.56
12	Parbhani	911,886	756,388	82.95	119,623	13.12	476	0.05
13	Nander	803,115	681,830	84.90	99,472	12.39	247	0.03
14	Bir	713,630	629,403	88.20	71,601	10.03	628	1.00
15	Gulbarga	1,312,055	1,028,659	78.40	230,611	17.58	7,153	0.78
16	Raichur	1,041,959	888,803	85.30	127,765	12.26	10,184	0.03
17	Osmanabad	748,691	637,400	85.14	99,563	13.30	292	1.39
18	Bidar	1,023,482	816,624	79.79	179,967	17.58	10,388	1.01
Total		16,338,534	13,309,649	81.46	2,097,475	12.84	220,464	1.35

*Baghat was a new district and, until 1931, was part of Atraf-i-Balada, when the following map was created. 

Percentage of Hindu Population,  according to the census of 1941.

Percentage of Muslim Population,  according to the census of 1941.

The following table provides the demographic details of some selected cities in the state.

NO	City	Pop.	Hindus	%	Muslims	%	Christians	%
1	Hyderabad	739,159	370,823	50.17	344,915	46.66	29,839	4.04
2	Nizamabad	32,741	21,297	65.05	10,755	32.85	346	1.06
3	Bodhan	19,443	12,324	63.39	6,580	33.84	301	1.55
4	Medak	7,565	4,275	56.51	2,036	26.91	1,253	16.56
5	Siddipet	12,865	10,061	78.20	2,625	20.40	77	0.60
6	Narayanpet	19,396	10,409	53.67	5,933	30.59	14	0.07
7	Mahbubnagar	16,462	8,921	54.19	6,861	41.68	457	2.78
8	Nalgonda	12,674	5,708	45.04	6,269	49.46	240	1.89
9	Bhongir	12,170	8,731	71.74	6,861	56.38	49	0.40
10	Warangal	92,808	65,769	70.87	24,181	26.05	2,430	2.62
11	Khammam	18,982	12,401	65.33	5,391	28.40	634	3.34
12	Yellandu	15,907	11,615	73.02	1,942	12.21	634	3.99
13	Jagtial	16,294	10,911	66.96	5,179	31.78	254	1.56
14	Karimnagar	17,437	9,537	54.69	7,064	40.51	464	2.66
15	Peddapalli	10,731	7,865	73.29	2,566	23.91	258	2.40
16	Nirmal	14,499	10,046	69.29	4,387	30.26	32	0.22
17	Adilabad	11,128	7,680	69.02	3,399	30.54	-	0.00
18	Aurangabad	50,924	25,281	49.64	23,416	45.98	923	1.81
19	Jalna	38,096	23,190	60.87	14,239	37.38	1,342	3.52
20	Parbhani	21,683	10,340	47.69	11,060	51.01	24	0.11
21	Hingoli	14,601	9,140	62.60	5,021	34.39	20	0.14
22	Manwath	14,113	11,287	79.98	2,545	18.03	-	0.00
23	Basmath	13,796	7,809	56.60	5,891	42.70	-	0.00
24	Nander	36,689	17,687	48.21	17,765	48.42	147	0.40
25	Bir	15,222	9,012	59.20	5,975	39.25	43	0.28
26	Mominabad	16,250	10,020	61.66	5,271	32.44	13	0.08
27	Gulbarga	53,551	22,608	42.22	30,064	56.14	351	0.66
28	Shorapur	11,836	6,729	56.85	4,974	42.02	18	0.15
29	Yadgir	17,661	9,665	54.73	7,749	43.88	6	0.03
30	Kalyani	12,542	5,208	41.52	7,312	58.30	-	0.00
31	Aland	13,041	4,568	35.03	7,282	55.84	6	0.05
32	Shahabad	10,152	6,207	61.14	3,663	36.08	64	0.63
33	Raichur	34,972	21,398	61.19	13,016	37.22	327	0.94
34	Kopbal	13,970	7,894	56.51	5,853	41.90	26	0.19
35	Gadwal	14,716	10,822	73.54	3,781	25.69	99	0.67
36	Latur	24,985	15,478	61.95	8,980	35.94	16	0.06
37	Bidar	20,514	6,620	32.27	13,002	63.38	801	3.90
38	Udgir	11,238	6,101	54.29	4,725	42.04	41	0.36

In 1947, Mir Osman Ali Khan was ruling this state. He was confident that with the size and resources of a state like Hyderabad, he could maintain it as an independent country and, unlike other princely states, avoid joining the Republic of India. Perhaps he did not fully comprehend the geography and demographics of his state and, above all, the winds of change blowing all over India. Indeed, he succeeded for a while, but finally, on 13 September 1948, India invaded the state militarily and occupied it within four days. Under the process of reorganization of Indian states on a linguistic basis, the erstwhile state of Hyderabad was divided among three newly formed Indian states: Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Karnataka.

Linguistic map of Hyderabad State. 

Division of Hyderabad on the linguistic basis in 1956.

The Location of Hyderabad State in India.  

The Location of Hyderabad State in British India.

His Exalted Highness Nawab Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan Siddiqi, Asaf Jah VII.

(6 April 1886 - 24 February 1967)

Flag. 

The currency note. 

After the fall of Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar in 1857, the Nizam of Hyderabad was the most prominent symbol of Muslim influence and prestige in India. Reputed to be the richest person in the world, the last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, made every effort to develop his state. Nearly all the major public buildings and institutions in Hyderabad city, such as Hyderabad High Court, Jubilee Hall, Nizamia Observatory, Moazzam Jahi Market, Kachiguda Railway Station, Asafiya Library, Town Hall (now known as the Assembly Hall), and Hyderabad Museum (now known as the State Museum), as well as hospitals like Osmania General Hospital and Nizamia Hospital, along with many other monuments, were built during his reign. He also built the Hyderabad House in Delhi, which is now used for diplomatic meetings by the Government of India.

I hope this post will be of considerable interest to people who want to learn about the past of this state, which lasted for more than two centuries. Its legacies are still found in the region it once controlled, and their effect on the culture of its people can still be seen.

Tariq Amir

Doha - Qatar.

July 8, 2020. 

035. Partition Of Punjab in 1947

036. Muslim Population Of India: According To The Censuses Of 1941 and 2001

037. Partitions Of Bengal in 1905 and 1947

038. Demographics Of Jammu & Kashmir

054. Muslim Population Of India: According To The Census of 2011

127. Demographics of Sindh Province According to the Census of 1941

128 - Demographics of North West Frontier Province According to the Census of 1941