The Maharaja of Jodhpur, Hanwant Singh(1923-1952), was about to give consent to sign the Instrument of Accession to Pakistan Union in 1948 and would have been the villain for all Indians, but he was not to be. Jodhpur was the largest border State with Hindu majority, among the 21 Rajputana States, having 36,071 square miles of area. Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the creator of Pakistan, gave Hanwant “ a tempting offer” but one comment from the Maharajkumar of Jaisalmer, who accompanied him to Jinnah, made the son-in- law of Dhrangadhra Royal family of Saurashtra change his mind. The Maharajkumar, heir-apparent of Jaisalmer, was asked by Jinnah whether he would prefer to join Pakistan like Jodhpur, Jaisalmer replied that his State would join Pakistan only on condition that if there were trouble between Hindus and Muslims in his State, he(Jinnah) would remain strictly neutral. This unexpected comment made Hanwant Singh cautious about the possible problems. The Maharaja did not want to make a hasty decision, and wanted to escape from the situation suggesting he would consult his mother, the Dowager Maharani, and the Sardars (the feudal lords) at Jodhpur. “So I thanked Mr. Jinnah for his offer and said we would think about it and then return. As soon as I said this, Jinnah pulled away rather brusquely the blank paper with his signature that I held in my fingers.” The Maharaja had even dramatically pulled out a pistol and threatened V. P. Menon, Sardar Patel’s emissary, during negotiations to merge and integrate with India at the residence of the Governor General, Lord Mountbatten. He not only preferred to accede his State to Indian Union but also claimed the legal ownership of Umarkot Fort which has gone to Pakistan.
Even when some of the native rulers were keen to contest the merger of their States and integration of their respective States to India, young Hanwant Singh thought otherwise during the first elections in 1952. He got his supporters contest the elections. Out of 35 candidates, 31 were elected. Even the Premier and the Congress stalwart, Jay Narayan Vyas, lost his deposit. Hanwant Singh was also declared elected to Assembly and Lok Sabha but after his tragic death in a plane crash! “The young Maharaja had gone out flying in his plane to relax after the hard election campaign, and had crashed and been killed.” The possibility of sabotage was expressed. The people of Jodhpur were so furious with the Premier, Jay Narayan Vyas, that he was able to escape ignominiously through the zenana(femal apartments) and in a purdah (veil)car from Umaid Bhawan Palace. L.S. Rathore opines in “Life and Times of Maharaja Hanwant Singh”: “The Maharaja’s democratic spirit and the qualities of leadership were best displayed during the first general elections held in 1952, whereby he had put the Congress and its stalwarts to rout in the Jodhpur region.”
The Maharaja had first married Princess Krishna Kumari of Dhrangadhra State. Later he married one English nurse, Sundara Devi (Sandra MacBride) and got separated soon. In 1950, he “married” a Muslim film actress, Zubeida, whose name was changed to Vidya Rani after conversion to Hinduism. She was a divorcee and had a son, Khalid Mohamed, from her first marriage. Khalid has been a celebrated film critic since last some decades and a journalist turned film director. He was a Lead Editor of Filmfare magazine of Mumbai.
A Polo player Hanwant Singh’s life was also playful and filmy, full of ups and downs in his affairs, but the Maharani Krishna Kumari (present Rajmata) has always maintained grace. The Rajmata was also elected to Lok Sabha in 1971. Her son and the present “Maharaja”, Gaj Singh II, was also a Member of Rajya Sabha (MP).The Rajmata has taken care of her step-son, Rao Raja Hukum Singh( Tutu Bana) and his family too. Hukum Singh, a son of Maharaja and Zubeida, was murdered 36 years back by unknown persons leaving his wife, Rajeshwari Kumari of Alwar and two children, Parikshit and Jayanandini. The Rajmata got both her step-grandchildren married as her own grandchildren. Hanwant Singh was a trained pilot but his plane crashed.He along with Zubeida died on the spot. Unfortunately, most of the official records carried the name and description of the Maharaja and avoided mentioning the death of Zubeida! Needless to say that the 29- year old Maharaja was madly in her love. In 2001, Shyam Benegal directed the film “Zubeidaa” scripted by Zubeida’s son, Khalid Mohmed. The film, as a love story of Maharaja Hanwant Singh( Manoj Bajpayee) and Zubeidaa( Karishma Kapoor), was presented as purely a work of fiction, did not do well on box-office but it was an autobiographical film. Rekha performed the role of the graceful Rajmata. “My mother passed away when I was 2 or 3. She is just a faint memory. I grew up on her portraits and my grandmother (mother’s mother) talking about her. My grandmother never let me feel the loss of a mother but I did not have a father.” Khalid has no idea whether his father is alive or dead. “He went to Pakistan years ago. The last time I heard from him was when I was ten and he mailed me Rs.10.”
In February 2017, ‘Slumdog Millionaire’-fame Khalid wrote a piece: “36 years later : Murder of Prince Hukum Singh remains a mystery”. Khalid, who served as the National Cultural Editor of Hindustan Times, writes: “ As many as 36 years later, the murder of Raja Rao Hukum Singh of Jodhpur, remains unsolved despite periodic efforts to re-open the case. His immediate surviving family, son Parikshit and daughter Jayanandini, have given up. His wife, Rajeshwari, passed away in the interim. They had appealed to the Supreme Court to move the Rajasthan police to detect what exactly happened to Hukum Singh, also known as Tutu Bana, on the night of April 17, 1981.The appeal was in vain. Why am I writing this story now? Because he was my brother, step-brother if you insist on precision….Hukum Singh, the son of Hanwant Singh and Zubeida, was raised by Krishna Devi, following the deaths of the Maharaja and Zubeida in a private airplain crash. Tutu grew up pampered, but also hot-tempered and restless, frequently demanding money, jewellery and vast amounts of property, which he insisted were due to him.” Khalid notes further: “Towards the last stretch of his life, Tutu would meet me frequently, and laugh, ‘Brother, this may be the last time you may be seeing me. Do me a favour, if I go, look after my children.’ A fortnight after he said that, he was gone.”
Next Column: Atal Bihari Vajpapee, a Poet and a Statesman
( The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail : [email protected] )
