From Autocracy to Integration: Political Developments in Hyderabad State (1938-1948)

This book tells of the events which led, in September 1948, to the integration of the princely state of Hyderabad–the largest and the richest of the princely states-into the Indian Union. Over the centuries the area of Hyderabad State which covered most of the central part of the Deccan Plateau, remained isolated from the rest of the country and developed a culture distinct from others in the subcontinent. Until the 1930s, the court intrigues on the one hand, and the relationship between the Nizam and the British Resident and the Viceroy on the other formed the visible substance of the politics of Hyderabad. The year 1938 marked the beginning of serious political agitation and a severe deterioration in the communal atmosphere in the state. Events began to move quite rapidly and culminated in the Police Action of 1948 when the Indian army invaded Hyderabad State forcing its accession to the Indian Union. This book centres around the question of the nature and popularity of the annexation of Hyderabad. It also explores the question of whether this was the only way in which the transition to popular rule could have taken place. The author attempts to answer these questions through a detailed and sensitive study of the crucial decade of 1938-48.