The benevolent ruler of Baroda State, Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, groomed his grandson, Sir Pratap Singh Rao (29 June 1908- 19 July 1968), as his heir apparent to succeed him in 1939. “The favoured son of the British Empire” Maharaja Sayajirao died in 1939 after he ruled for fifty-eighty years. V.P. Menon records in “Integration of the Indian States”: “Pratap Singh continued for some time to follow in the footsteps of his illustrious predecessor. But after three or four years, he fell under the influence of bad advisors. He contracted a second “marriage” in circumstances which gravely reflected on his position as a ruler. He had been married in 1929 to Maharani Shanta Devi of the Ghorpade family of Kolhapur who had borne him eight children, before his “marriage” in 1944 to Sita Devi, the daughter of a landlord in Madras province. Sita Devi had already been married in 1933 and had a son by her first husband. But in October 1943, she announced her conversion to Islam and obtained a declaration from a court that her marriage was dissolved by reason of conversion.”
Maharaja Pratap Singh took the extraordinary step of amending the Baroda law against bigamy with retrospective effect so as to provide that nothing in it “shall apply or shall be deemed ever to have applied to His Highness”. Of course, despite all these efforts, it was not recognized by the British Government nor by the Government of India. In 1944, Pratap Singh raised his privy purse from Rs.23 lakhs to Rs.50 lakhs a year and also, inspite of the express injunctions left by his predecessor, he kept on advancing money to himself from the State funds.
In September 1947, the situation in Kathiawar was causing concern to the Government of India by reason of the accession of the Nawab of Junagadh to Pakistan. Most of the Kathiawar rulers co-operated with the Government of India, but Sir Pratap Singh tried to put pressure on Sardar Patel and laid down certain conditions which were not acceptable. The Sardar bluntly refused to accept Sir Pratap Singh’s conditions including declaring him the King of Gujarat and Kathiawar as Patel was aware of the Maharaja of Baroda’s sympathy toward the Bhopal Plan of Nawab Hamidullah Khan to join hands with Pakistan as well as emulating the Nizam of Hyderabad by putting forward claims to be an independent ruler. Menon notes, “Pratap Singh’s ambition was to occupy in Western India a status similar to that to which the Nizam aspired in the Deccan”.
The Maharaja agreed to set up a Constituent Assembly which would frame a constitution for the State and appointing Dr. Jivraj Mehta as the head of the interim ministry only after Sardar Patel warned him in no unclear words. Dr. Mehta, the Dewan turned the Chief Minister of Baroda State, found grave irregularities in the State funds since the Maharaja withdrawing huge amount without bothering to producing proper accounts. The Government of India appointed a senior officer of the Indian Audit and Accounts Service to conduct investigations. An alarming state of affairs was revealed. “Between the years 1943 and 1947, in addition to his annual privy purse of Rs.50 lakhs, Pratap Singh had withdrawn from the State Investment Reserve, a sum of nearly Rs.6 crores, while several valuable jewels, including the famous seven-strand pearl necklace and the diamond necklace with the three priceless stones, ‘Star of the South’, ’Eugene’ and ‘Shahee Akbar’, as well as two pearl carpets, had been removed and sent to England”, Menon records.
The Sardar and Menon were keen that Baroda State required to have merger with the Bombay state. The Maharaja was invited to Delhi. He sought time to consult the Maharani, Shanta Devi. Patel asked Menon to accompany him to Bombay for a discussion with the Maharani. Though the Maharani was against the merger, she conveyed the Maharaja could take any decision. On 23 January 1949, the Executive Council endorsed the merger resolution and on 31 January, Sir Pratap Singh announced the decision in a press communique. Since the Maharaja failed to full fill most of the promises to return the jewelry and deposit in the Jawaharkhana, the States Ministry was convinced that, unless a trust was formed of the jewels and other private properties, Sir Pratap Singh would fritter them all away and leave the Maharani and her children destitute. The Maharaja agreed on such arrangement but defied later.
Even on the merger of Baroda State, he adopted an attitude of defiance. Early in December 1950, Pratap Singh addressed a memorial to the President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, in which he challenged the legality of the merger of Baroda with Bombay. Though this was addressed to the President, it also found its way into the press. Sardar Patel was seriously ill. On 15 December 1950, he passed away in Bombay. N. Gopalaswami Aiyengar took charge of the States Ministry and Menon was asked to reply to the Maharaja on his public defiance on the merger issue. Despite Menon warning the Maharaja, he met some of the rulers, got a Rulers’ Union formed and accepted the presidentship of the organization in February 1951. He had a powerful ally in Jodhpur. Menon writes: “It was reported to me by one of the Maharajas that, in the event of a war breaking out between India and Pakistan, it was the ambition of some of the rulers to get back their States!”
The Maharaja of Baroda was playing with fire. Moraji Desai, then Home Minister of Bombay, suggested in a letter to PM Nehru to curb the anti-merger agitation. The Government of India had to take urgent steps. It was decided that, under clause 22 of Article 366 of the Constitution, Pratap Singh’s recognition as ruler should be withdrawn and that his son, Yuvraj Fatesinghrao (2 April 1930- 1 September 1988), should be recognized as the Maharaja of Baroda in his place.
The order of the de-recognition of Pratap Singh was served on him on the evening of 12 April 1951 at his house in Delhi. Pratap Singh was informed that, should he so wish, he could make any submission to the President in regard to that order within one month. Sir Pratap Singh and the Maharani, Shanta Devi, were given interviews by the President, Nehru and Gopalaswami. On 5 May 1951, the President gave them a further hearing, at which Gopalaswami was also present. On 20 May, the President decided finally to reject his appeal for reinstatement, but allowed to continue to use the title of “His Highness” and an allowance for his maintenance.
Next Column: Sardar Patel and his relations with Muslims
(The writer is a Socio-political Historian. E-mail: [email protected] )
