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Mahabharata katha London
2012
Royals of India were betrayed by the British before the independence.
Royals of India were betrayed by the Indian (Congress) Government after the
independence.
At the time of Indian Independence, 1947, Indian royals had the choice to keep
their kingdoms intact and become free of all old allegiances to the British
crown or join the new republics of India and Pakistan. Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel and V.P.Menon convinced, cajoled, coerced over 550 Indian rulers to accede
their territories to the Indian Union. Viceroy, Lord Mountbatten, advised
the kings to merge their kingdoms with emerging nations of India or Pakistan.
He based this advise on the fact that the British Indian territories were going
to be transferred to these two nations and a merger would serve in the best
interest of the nation and its people. He listened to Congress’s argument
that a nation divided between 560 kingdoms and British territories would feel
like a moth eaten cloth and be difficult to govern. Viceroy, on behalf of
the British Crown, promised that they would negotiate a fair deal for the kings
and not abandon them despite the ending of the British Raj. Kings’
misdemeanors and records of past sins, public and private, were burned in a
bonfire of secret government files. Payments into privy purse of former
royals was arranged to make the loss of kingdoms more palatable to the royals.
Unlike what the Congress and communists preach, privy purses of the kings were
not a generous charity from India to the ex-rulers of Princely states.
Privy purses were actually designed to compensate kings for having donated their
kingdoms, lands, income and revenue to the newly formed states of India and
Pakistan. Privy purses were meant to be their fair dues for having
cooperated with the process of creating a ‘whole’ country as opposed to a
fragmented one. This was a small price to pay for unity and cohesiveness
of India / Pakistan as a whole.
Over 550 Princely states became part of Indian Union.
A handful of states signed up to join Pakistan.
Two states, Jammu & Kashmir and Hydrabad decided to stay independent.
Pakistan forced the hand of Kashmir’s king and he acceded his kingdom to India
to save it from being looted by Pakistani soldiers.
In September 1948, Sardar Patel assisted a local uprising to annex Hydrabad into
India.
It is terribly sad to think that the daughter of the man these kings negotiated
with, Jawaharlal Nehru, reneged on their promises and tore up the agreements
faithfully entered into only a generation ago. In 1971, Indira, daughter
of Jahawarlal, took away all their privileges, titles and privy purses from
former kings of India, reducing men who had sacrificed EVERTHING for the unity
of India, to penury. Ostensibly, this was done to save money being spent
on rich families and provide more money for better government of India.
However, Indira’s long rule of 15 years was big on slogans but delivered very
little actual progress for India.
For the former rulers of India, this second betrayal was made more bitter by the
fact that no one, not even the British, stood by the kings to remind Indira that
the kings were not living at the mercy of her largesse, but they were actually
being compensated for their large hearts. No one, not even the judiciary
stood by the kings for the breach of faith and broken promises. Congress
government used constitution amendments, land reforms and media to beggar the
Maharajas of India. Sadly Congress used the same tactics to deprive Hindu
temples of their lands, properties and appropriated their incomes too.
Indian kings, betrayed before and after Independence, have had to survive by
selling their inheritance, converting their palaces to hotels and taking up jobs
they once gave to others. Since the abolishment of privy purses, many precious
royal heirlooms have been sold by kings, princes, nizams and nawabs of India to
sustain their families. In recent years, many royal palaces have been
converted to luxury hotels as an innovative alternative to fund their upkeep and
maintenance. Royal heirs are now working as paid employees in every field
imaginable including IT and environment
Here are a few related links on subject
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privy_Purse_in_India
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_state
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princely_states_of_Pakistan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Princeley-states.gif
https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150897556945269&id=250440670268
how much each family was paid
http://online.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887323469804578523660832052262
king > conservationist