Chapter 7 Decolonisation to Political Integration of India | decolonisation to political integration of india questions and answers
1A. Choose the correct alternative and rewrite the statement.
Question - 1. In 1946, under the leadership of the movement of ____________ ‘Civil Disobedience’ was launched in Goa.
[a] Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia
[b] Dr. T.B. Kunha
[c] Dr. P.P. Shirodkar
[d] Dr. Ram Hegde
Solutions :
Question - 2. Hyderabad’s struggle of freedom was led skillfully by ____________
[a] King Hari Singh
[b] Swami Ramanand Tirth
[c] Pandit Mahadevshastri Joshi
[d] Keshavrao Jedhe
Solutions :
[b] Swami Ramanand Tirth
Question - 3. The princely states in India were merged in India mainly through the efforts of ____________
[a] Jayantrao Tilak
[b] Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
[c] Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
[d] Dr. T.B. Kunha
Solutions :
[b] Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
1B. Find the incorrect pair from group ‘B’ and write the corrected one.
Question - 1.
| Group ‘A’ | Group ‘B’ |
| 1. Merger of the princely state of Hyderabad | Swami Ramanand Tirth |
| 2. Merger of the princely state of Kashmir | Shaikh Abdullah |
| 3. Significant contribution in the ‘Goa Liberation Movement | Mohan Ranade |
| 4. The trade unionist leader in Puducherry | V. Subbayya |
2. Write the names of historical places/persons/events.
Question - 1. The President of Goa Congress Committee –
Solutions :
Dr. T.B. Kunha
Question - 2. The princely states that did not merge in India immediately after its independence –
Solutions :
Junagadh, Hyderabad, Kashmir, Dadra and Haveli, Goa and Puducherry
3. Observe the map on textbook page 61 and answer the Question -s based on it.
Question - 1. Name the countries located at the northwest border of India.
Solutions :
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Question - 2. Which places in India were the centers of Portuguese rule?
Solutions :
Goa, Dadra and Nagar haveli, Diu and Daman.
Question - 3. Which place on the eastern coast of India were the centers of French rule?
Solutions :
Puducherry, Yanam and Karaikal.
Question - 4. Which nation is located at the southern tip of India?
Solutions :
Sri Lanka
4. Complete the following concept map.
Question - 1.
Solutions :
5. Explain the following statements with reasons.
Question - 1. Ultimately the princely state of Hyderabad was merged in India.
Solutions :
- Hyderabad was under Nizam rule, it was the largest amongst princely states along with Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi regional sections.
- The various organisation was formed to fight against Nizam’s policies for his people.
- Swami Ramanand Tirth alongside loyal workers were leading this organisation to gain freedom from the Nizam.
- Hyderabad State Congress passed a resolution that Hyderabad will merge in India and this was not liked by Nizam, he was willing to join Pakistan.
- The people of Hyderabad wanted to merge in India.
- Kasim Razvi formed a ‘Razakar’ organisation against people.
- In the end, the Indian Government launched a police campaign against Nizam, under the name ‘Operation Polo’.
- In 1948 Nizam surrendered and Hyderabad merged in India.
Question - 2. Puducherry was declared as a Union territory.
Solutions :
- Puducherry was under the French colony. India was under the impression that the British and Portuguese will send a message to the French to leave India, however, this did not happen.
- Puducherry, Mahe, Yanam, and Chandranagar in West Bengal were under French control.
- The people of Puducherry got united under Subbayya, a communist politician and leader.
- The government noticed it as serious and strongly demanded that French governments should return all the regions held by them.
- In 1948, a bilateral agreement was signed by both governments. In 1949, Chandranagar was merged.
- In 1954, all French colonies were merged in India. In 1962, the French Parliament approved the bilateral agreement and in 1963, Puducherry became the ‘Union Territory’ of India.
6. State your opinion.
Question - 1. Andhra, Karnataka, Maharashtra Councils [Parishad] were found in the princely state of Hyderabad.
Solutions :
- Hyderabad was the largest amongst princely states in India. It comprised Telugu, Kannada, and Marathi regional sections. It was ruled by Nizam.
- Nizam of Hyderabad had put many restrictions on the Civil and Political rights of his subjects to a great extent.
- To fight against such restrictions in the state, people had formed organizations like ‘Andhra Parishad’ in Telangana, ‘Maharashtra Parishad’ in Marathwada, and ‘Karnataka Parishad’ in Karnataka.
Question - 2. The Portuguese rule in Goa remained untouched till 1961.
Solutions :
- Goa was under Portuguese control. There prevailed a general notion among Indians that the departure of the British from India would send a signal to the Portuguese and the French to leave India on their own.
- However, this did not happen and many freedom fighters like Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia, Dr. Kunha, and many more have contributed to the struggle against the Portuguese.
- At last, the Indian govt has sent the army, under Operation Vijay, to make Goa free from Portuguese control and became a part of India on 19th December 1961.
Try to do this [Textbook Page No. 58
Try to collect information about the newspapers published during ‘Hyderabad Freedom Struggle’ with the help of the internet.
Solutions :
Students should do it on their own.
Try to do this [Textbook Page No. 60]
Collect information about the fort of Panaji and make a poster about the fort.
Solutions :
Students should do it on their own.
Project [Textbook Page No. 62
Collect information about the ‘Gorta Massacre’ a very important instance in the struggle for liberating Hyderabad. To get more information about it visit the following website: www.bhausahebumate.com
Solutions :[i] As we know Qasim Razvi, had founded the Razakar organisation [Nizam’s private military] to help Nizam to suppress the voice of people against Nizam of Hyderabad. Gorta was the name of a village [Karnataka] and people were massacred by Razakars of Hyderabad in 1948. Gorta Village is also known as Jaliyanwala Bag of Karanataka, it was a mass killing on May 9th and 10th 1948. Though a plaque kept in front of the village gives fight date May 5th, and it continued for two weeks. It is said that around 200 people were killed by Razakars and property destruction was worth ₹ 70 lakhs.
[ii] A folk song called ‘Bhulai pada’ sung by village women in bitter memory of the massacre. There is demand from village people in front of the Government for the construction of the memorial at Gorta. Local people and local political parties had collected ₹ 27 lakh for a 35-foot memorial and laid the foundation on September 17th, 2014.
Chapter 7 Decolonisation to Political Integration of India | decolonisation to political integration of india questions and answers
‘Decolonisation’ is the process of
ending the colonial rule and handing over
the political and administrative power to
local people by the colonialists. Opposition
to colonialism, struggle for independence
and the nations under colonisation regaining
their independence are the three stages of
decolonisation process. India became
independent on 15th August 1947.
However,
at that time there existed several Princely
States in India, which were ruled by the
hereditary rulers under British suzerainty.
These states were given the choice to
decide whether to accede to India or not.
If these states had decided against it, then
it would have become very difficult to
create the Indian Union. Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel, the first Deputy Prime Minister and
the Home Minister of India, pursued most
of the rulers of these states in favour of
acceding to India so that political integration
of India could be possible. In this lesson,
we are going to take a brief review of
these events.
7.1 Decolonisation to Political
Integration of India
When India gained
independence, there
were more than 600
princely states of various
size. Their political
integration was the
biggest challenge faced
by the leaders of
independent India. There was political awakening in the Princely
States because of Non Co-operation
movement. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
handled the situation with great skill and
tact. He took a conciliatory approach and
won the confidence of the rulers of these
states. With the exception of Junagadh,
Hyderabad, and Kashmir remaining states
responded positively to the appeal and
merged in India. Later, Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel adopted a stern policy and resolved
the problem of the accession of those states,
who were unwilling to accede
Junagadh : It was a princely state in
Saurashtra (Gujarat). The people of this
state were ready to accede to India while its
Nawab wanted to merge in Pakistan.
However common people opposed the
Nawab’s decision. He escaped to Pakistan.
In February 1948, Junagadh merged in India.
Hyderabad Freedom Struggle :
Hyderabad was the largest amongst the
princely states in India. It comprised Telugu,
Kannada and Marathi regional sections. It
was ruled by Nizam. He put restrictions on
the civil and political rights of his subjects
to a great extent. To fight against the
suppressive policies of Nizam people of the
state established various organisations,
namely. ‘Andhra Parishad’ in Telangana,
‘Maharashtra Parishad’ in
Marathawada and
‘Karnataka Parishad’ in
Karnataka. Swami
Ramanand Tirtha led
Hyderabad freedom
struggle skillfully with the
help of loyal workers of
these three organisations.
He founded the ‘Hyderbad
State Congress’ and gave a momentum to
the struggle for Hyderabad’s accession
The ‘Hyderabad State Congress’ passed
a resolution in favour of Hyderabad’s
merger in India. It was opposed by Nizam
for the fear of losing his hold. He was
willing to join Pakistan. The people were
in favour of India while the ruler was in
favour of Pakistan. Kasim Razvi, who
could exercise considerable influence over
Nizam, founded an organisation called
‘Razakar’. Kasim Razvi and his organisation
practiced many atrocities against the people
who were fighting for democracy. Nizam
was adamant on his policies. He was
averse to any negotiations and closed all
channels of mediation. Ultimately the
Indian Government launched a police
campaign against Nizam. This campaign
was named as ‘Operation Polo’. On 17th
September 1948, Nizam finally surrendered
and Hyderabad state was merged in India.
The Kashmir Issue : Hari Singh, the
ruling king of the State of Kashmir, had
decided neither to join India, nor Pakistan
after India’s independence. However,
Pakistan had plans to annex Kashmir to its
territory. Therefore, Pakistan began to
pressurise King Hari Singh. On 22nd October
1947, armed bands of intruders attacked
Kashmir from the Pakistan border. King
Hari Singh, who wanted to maintain
independent status, asked India for help.
On 27th October 1947, he consented to
merge Kashmir in India and officially
submitted the Agreement (Instrument of
Accession) to the Government of India.
The
Indian Army was sent for Kashmir’s
protection. It captured a significant portion
of Kashmir’s territory that was acquired by
the armed intruders from Pakistani border,
however, they managed to keep their hold
on some portion. In 1948, India presented
the Kashmir issue in ‘United Nations’.
Thus, Kashmir issue became an international
issue. Even the ‘United Nations’ could not
persuade Pakistan to withdraw their troops
from the territory of Kashmir occupied by
them. However, then the ‘National
Conference Party’ decided on plebiscite to
solve the issue and to accede Kashmir to
India. The constitution of Jammu and
Kashmir was drafted and since then JammuKashmir has been an integral part of the
Republic of India. It was accorded a special
status under ‘Article 370’
7.2 Dadra and Nagar-Haveli
Dadra and Nagar-Haveli are located in
the interior parts of Gujarat coast. It is on
the northern banks of the river Damanganga. It was part of Portuguese dominion and
was administered by a Portuguese governor.
It was anticipated that after India’s
independence the Portuguese would hand
over these regions to India and quit.
However they did not do so. Therefore, the
local people in Dadra and Nagar-Haveli
rose against the Portuguese. The
organisations, namely, ‘United Front of
Goans’,
‘Azad Gomantak Dal’ came
together and planned a campaign to free
these regions from the Portuguese rule. In
1954, Francis Mascarenhas, Vimal Sardesai,
the leaders of ‘Azad Gomantak Dal’
intensified the struggle. With fierce
protestations people captured Nagar-Haveli.
The other organisation, ‘United Front of
Goans’ took hold of Dadra. ‘Rashtravadi
Mukti Sena’, a branch of ‘Azad Gomantak
Dal’ took over Naroli, Pimparia and some
part of Silvasa. Local police stations and
administrative offices were attacked. Public
unrest reached such extent that the
Portuguese army had to beat a retreat.
The
Portuguese Captain Fidalgo surrendered.
The Government of India appointed K.G.
Badalani to bring normalcy in administration
in these area. According to the agreement
with the Indian Government, the region of
Dadra and Nagar-Haveli was merged in
India on 2nd August 1954. Vishvanath
Lavande, Rajabhau Vakankar, Sudhir
Phadke, Nanasaheb Kajarekar, Nilubhau
Limaye, Vasant Zanjale and many others
participated in this struggle. In 1961 Dadra
and Nagar-Haveli were given the status of
‘Union Territories’.
7.3 Goa
The movement of liberating Goa from
the Portuguese rule had begun during preindependence times only. In 1928, ‘Goa
Congress Committee’ was founded in
Mumbai. Dr.T. B. Kunha was the president
of this committee. In 1929, Goa Congress
Committee became an integral branch of
Indian National Congress. In 1939, posters
with ‘Quit Goa’ slogans were posted all
over Goa. Francis Mascarenhas, the
President of United
Goan Front unfurled the
Indian flag in Goa. In
1946, under the
leadership of Dr. Ram
Manohar Lohia, the
movement of ‘Civil
Disobedience’ was
launched in Goa.
Dr.Lohia was arrested
and was deported from Goa. Dr.T.B. Kunha,
Purushottam Kakodkar, Dr. Ram Hegde,
Dr. P. P. Shirodkar and Gopal Mayekar were
arrested for participating in the satyagraha
at Madgaon. Dr. Kunha was imprisoned for
eight years.
He was sent to a prison in
Portugal. Later, after returning to India, he
started publishing two newspapers, namely,
‘Azad Goa’ and ‘Swatantra Goa’.
After India’s independence, the
movement for liberating Goa took roots in
Maharashtra. In 1954, the ‘Goa Vimochan
Sahayak Samiti’ was founded at Pune.
Keshavarao Jedhe, N.G. Gore, and Jayantrao
Tilak took on the responsibility of directing
the movement. Some groups who volunteered
for the cause of Goa’s liberation marched
to Goa under the leadership of N.G. Gore
and Senapati Bapat.
One group of those
volunteers unfurled the national flag of
India on the fort of Panaji.
There were a number of other eminent
people, who participated in the Goa
liberation movement.
It included people
like Pandit
Mahadevshastri Joshi,
Shirubhau Limaye,
Peter Alvaris and
Sudha Joshi. The
contribution of Mohan
Ranade in this
struggle is very significant. He systematically
began anti-Portuguese propaganda in Goa.
With the help of Azad Gomantak Dal, he
also started armed struggle against the
Portuguese. During an attack on a police
station, he was shot and got injured.
Portuguese Government kept him in jail till
1972. Acharya P.K. Atre used the daily
newspaper ‘Maratha’, published by him as
a platform for supporting the movement.
The strong public sentiments in the
matter of Goa’s liberation moved Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru to act on it.
A mission
was planned under the code name,
‘Operation Vijay’. Indian army descended
in Goa to accomplish the mission. The
army was helped by local civilians as well.
They showed the army the places where,
the Portuguese had planted landmines. The
Portuguese surrendered within 48 hours. On
19th December 1961, Goa became a part of
the Indian Republic. The foreign rule of
450 years came to an end 7.4 Puducherry
When India got its independence,
Puducherry was still a French colony.
There
prevailed a general notion among Indians
that departure of the British from India
would send a signal the Portuguese and the
French to leave India on their own.
However, it was not to be so. The dispersed
regions including Puducherry, Karaikal,
Mahe and Yanam and also Chandranagar
in West Bengal were ruled by the French.
The French Government was unwilling to
surrender these regions. People at Puducherry
got united under the leadership of V.
Subbayya, a communist politician and a
trade unionist. Taking a serious note of the
happenings in Puducherry, the Government
of India strongly demanded that the French
Government return the Indian regions held
by them.
In June 1948, a bilateral agreement
was signed between both the governments.
Thus, it became possible to resolve the
Puducherry issue by way of negotiations,
public movements and governmental actions.
In 1949-50, after a positive public poll,
Chandranagar was merged in the Indian
Republic. Later, on 13th October 1954, by
a bilateral agreement between the Indian
Government and French Government, the
minutes of the merger process were drafted.
The vote in the Legislative Assembly and
in the Municipal Corporation was in the
support of accession. On 1st November
1954, all French colonies in India were
merged in India. In 1962, the French
Parliament approved of the bilateral
agreement and in 1963 Puducherry was
declared to be a ‘Union Territory’.
Under the leadership of Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai
Patel, the Princely States in India were
acceded to India and became integral part
of the Indian Republic. Thus, the process
of political integration of India was
completed.
In the next lesson we are going to
review the ‘World Wars’ and its impact on
India.