Junagadh Accession 1947: The Nawab, Pakistan, the Plebiscite and Integration

The Junagadh accession crisis began on 15 August 1947, when the Nawab of Junagadh announced that his state had joined Pakistan. Junagadh had no land border with Pakistan and more than 80 percent of its people were Hindus. India took over its administration on 9 November 1947 at the request of the Nawab’s own Dewan, and in a referendum on 20 February 1948 only 91 of the 1,90,870 votes cast in Junagadh went to Pakistan.

Aspirants usually meet Junagadh as a one-line item in the list of three difficult princely states, next to Hyderabad and Kashmir. That one line hides the interesting part. In Junagadh, India argued that the people’s will should override a ruler’s choice; in Kashmir, it relied on a ruler’s signature. An answer that can explain that tension, instead of skipping it, is the answer that scores.

The sequence below follows V. P. Menon, who handled the crisis for the States Ministry and wrote its history, and the Government of India’s White Paper on Indian States of 1950.

Junagadh in 1947: A State Its Geography Had Already Decided

Junagadh was the premier state in the Kathiawar group, in the south-west of the peninsula, and its map settled most of the argument before politics began. It was bounded almost entirely by other Indian states, with the Arabian Sea on the south and south-west.

• It had no land contiguity with Pakistan. By sea, Veraval port was about 300 miles from Karachi.
• Area: 3,337 square miles. Population in the 1941 Census: 6,70,719, of whom over 80 percent were Hindus.
• Pockets of Junagadh territory lay inside Gondal, Bhavnagar and Nawanagar, and pockets of states that had joined India lay inside Junagadh.
• Its railways, posts and telegraphs were part of the Indian system.
• Its Hindu and Jain shrines drew pilgrims from across India, and the Somnath temple at Prabhas Patan lay in its territory.

Kathiawar was a jigsaw of small states, and Junagadh was a piece whose edges touched only India. That is why its accession to Pakistan looked less like a choice and more like a provocation.

The dynasty

Junagadh’s ruling house was Muslim, but the state’s older history was not, and that background is useful for context.

• It was a Rajput state under the Chudasama dynasty until 1472-73, when it was conquered by Sultan Mahmud Begada of Ahmedabad.
• Under Akbar it became a dependency of the Mughal court, under the subah of Ahmedabad.
• Around 1735, Sherkhan Babi, an officer under the subah, expelled the Mughal governor and founded the Babi line.
• The last Nawab, Sir Mahabat Khan Rasulkhanji, was his descendant. Menon remembers him mainly for his hundreds of dogs.

How the Accession to Pakistan Happened

The Junagadh accession was announced, not negotiated. It came as a communique that was never sent to the Government of India, and Pakistan accepted it four weeks later.

Letters found after the Nawab fled showed the decision had been prepared in private. Bhutto wrote to Muhammad Ali Jinnah about a meeting on 16 July in which Jinnah had advised the Nawab to “keep out under any circumstances until 15 August”.

The legal question was real. Under the independence arrangements, a ruler formally chose which Dominion to join, and the Nawab wrote that the law “did not and does not require a ruler to consult his people”. India’s reply rested on three things: geography, the composition of the population and the need to consult the people. The plan that created that framework is covered in the note on the Mountbatten Plan.

Mangrol, Babariawad and the smaller states

The crisis spread because Junagadh claimed overlordship over neighbors that had chosen India. These small units supplied the immediate trigger for Indian military moves.

• Mangrol. Its Sheikh signed the Instrument of Accession to India at Rajkot, then retracted under pressure from Junagadh. The Governor-General had already accepted the accession, so the retraction was ignored.
• Babariawad. A group of 51 villages held by Mulgirasias, a word Menon glosses as “original landholders”. They acceded directly to India, and Junagadh sent troops in.
• Manavadar. Its Khan had signed a Standstill Agreement with Pakistan and wanted to join it.
• Sardargarh and Bantwa. Estates attached to Junagadh under the 1943 Attachment Scheme. India’s Regional Commissioner took over their management on 1 October 1947.

When Junagadh’s forces also entered Mangrol, India had a case that went beyond Junagadh itself: territory that had lawfully joined India was being occupied.

Pressure Without Invasion: September to November 1947

India surrounded Junagadh rather than entering it, and the state collapsed from within. This is the part of the story that shows why the crisis ended without a war.

• 17 September. The Cabinet decided that Indian troops and forces of acceding states would be placed around Junagadh but would not occupy it. The Kathiawar Defence Force was commanded by Brigadier Gurdial Singh.
• 19 September. Menon went to Junagadh. The Nawab was said to be ill and would not see him. Bhutto admitted that the vast majority of the people wanted to join India and said he personally favored a referendum.
• 25 September. A provisional government, the Arzi Hukumat (arzi means provisional, hukumat means government), was proclaimed at a public meeting in Bombay. It had six members, with Samaldas Gandhi as President, and set up headquarters at Rajkot.
• 27 September. Mountbatten suggested referring the dispute to the United Nations. Sardar Patel opposed it, arguing there was “a grave disadvantage in being the plaintiff”, and Nehru agreed; the idea was dropped.
• By late September. More than a hundred thousand Hindus had left the state.
• Late October. The Nawab flew to Karachi with most of his family, some of his dogs, the family jewelry and the state’s cash balances and securities.
• 8 November. Pressed by local leaders, Bhutto wrote to N. M. Buch, the Regional Commissioner at Rajkot, asking India to take over the administration. He left for Karachi the same day.
• 9 November. Buch entered Junagadh and the administration was handed over peacefully. Menon records “not a single untoward incident”.

One detail from that night is worth keeping for answers on leadership. Menon woke Sardar Patel past midnight with the draft replies. Patel thought offering a plebiscite was unnecessary, since the Nawab had fled and the Dewan had handed over the state, but after discussion he agreed to the telegram that offered one.

Pakistan’s response

Pakistan treated the takeover as aggression, and its argument is the other half of the exam question.

• On 11 November, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan called India’s action “a clear violation of Pakistan territory and a breach of international law” and demanded that the Nawab be restored.
• Jawaharlal Nehru replied that the administration had broken down on the Dewan’s own admission, and that India wished to settle the issue by plebiscite.
• On 10 November, India’s Cabinet had ruled out a joint India-Pakistan plebiscite but said it had no objection to one held under United Nations auspices.

Patel at Junagadh and the Somnath pledge

On 13 November 1947, Patel addressed a large gathering at the Bahauddin College grounds and then visited the Somnath temple at Prabhas Patan. Seeing it in ruins, those present proposed rebuilding it. The Jam Saheb of Nawanagar gave a lakh of rupees, and Samaldas Gandhi announced Rs 51,000 on behalf of the Arzi Hukumat. The rebuilt temple’s later history is in the note on Somnath Mandir.

The Plebiscite of 20 February 1948

The Junagadh plebiscite confirmed accession to India by a margin that left nothing to argue about in the numbers. It was supervised by an ICS judicial officer, Nagarkar, whom Menon describes as “neither Hindu nor Muslim”, and held at the same time in the five smaller units.

Journalists from the Sunday Times and the Daily Telegraph who were in Junagadh said they could find little fault with the conduct of the vote.

A careful reader will raise the obvious objection: the vote was held after India had taken control, so was it free? It is a fair point, and a strong answer admits it. Two things still make the result hard to dispute. The margin was overwhelming, and in September the Dewan himself had told Menon that the vast majority wanted India. Pakistan never accepted the result.

From Junagadh State to Saurashtra

After the vote, India ran Junagadh briefly and then handed it to a larger union, which is how most small princely states ended.

• An ICS officer, S. W. Shiveshwarkar, was appointed Administrator under the Regional Commissioner.
• From 1 June 1948 an Executive Council of popular representatives assisted him: Samaldas Gandhi, Dayashankar Dave and Pushpavati Mehta.
• In December 1948, Junagadh’s elected representatives resolved to hand the administration to Saurashtra and to join its Constituent Assembly. Manavadar, Mangrol, Bantwa, Babariawad and Sardargarh passed similar resolutions.
• A Supplementary Covenant gave effect to this, and Saurashtra took over the administration in early 1949. The official White Paper of 1950 dates the handover to 20 January 1949, while V. P. Menon’s own account gives 20 February 1949. The Constitution then treated Junagadh as part of Saurashtra.

Saurashtra later became part of today’s Gujarat, which is why the Ministry of External Affairs now describes Junagadh as territory “in the Indian State of Gujarat”. The state’s formation is covered in the note on Gujarat Day, and the constitutional power used to redraw such units in the note on Article 3.

Junagadh Accession at a Glance

Junagadh, Kashmir and Hyderabad: Is India Consistent?

India’s positions on the three states differ in form, and critics read that as convenience. The comparison is where Mains marks sit, so it is worth laying out plainly.

Pakistan’s argument in Junagadh was that a ruler had the absolute right to accede without reference to the moral or ethnic aspects, in Liaquat Ali Khan’s framing. That is close to the principle India’s case in Kashmir rests on. India’s argument in Junagadh, geography plus popular will, is close to Pakistan’s case in Kashmir.

The balanced view is that neither side applied one rule everywhere. It is wise to say so in an answer, and then make the case that India’s handling of Junagadh at least ended in a recorded popular vote, which is more than can be said for most accessions of 1947.

Why Junagadh Still Comes Up

The dispute is old, but it has not disappeared from the map. Menon wrote in 1956 that Pakistan “has continued to claim Junagadh as part of its territory”, and that is still true.

• On 4 August 2020, Pakistan released a political map showing Junagadh as its territory.
• India’s Ministry of External Affairs called it “an exercise in political absurdity” and said the claims “have neither legal validity nor international credibility”.
• Pakistan’s maps have also carried claims over Manavadar and Sir Creek, which keeps Junagadh inside the wider India-Pakistan relations file.
• The rebuilt Somnath temple traces back to Patel’s visit of 13 November 1947, which makes Junagadh part of the story of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s legacy as well as of Partition.

How the Junagadh Accession Is Tested and How to Revise It

Prelims tests the sequence and the names. Mains tests the principle.

• Fix five dates: 15 August, 13 September, 25 September and 9 November 1947, and 20 February 1948.
• Know the names: Shah Nawaz Bhutto (Dewan), Samaldas Gandhi (Arzi Hukumat), N. M. Buch (Regional Commissioner), Brigadier Gurdial Singh (Kathiawar Defence Force).
• Watch the traps: the plebiscite came after the takeover, not before it; Pakistan accepted the accession in September, not August; the White Paper counts Hyderabad and Junagadh as the only two non-acceding states, while Kashmir acceded.
• For Mains, use Junagadh as one of three cases in any answer on the integration of princely states, and use the comparison table above to show you see the consistency problem.
• Two model answers on this theme are worth reading: one on Patel’s integration of the princely states and one on the administrative and socio-cultural problems of integration.

Final Remarks

The Junagadh accession is a small story with a large lesson. A ruler used a legal right against his state’s geography and people, and the state fell apart within three months without a battle. India’s response, a cordon instead of an invasion, a takeover requested by the Dewan and a plebiscite afterward, is the clearest case from 1947-48 of popular will being used to settle a disputed accession.

The part an examiner rewards is the honesty about Kashmir. Write the Junagadh sequence accurately, then show that you understand why Pakistan still points to it, and why India’s answer is stronger here than its critics allow.

Frequently Asked Questions

Practice Questions

Prelims MCQs

Q1. The Nawab of Junagadh announced his state’s accession to Pakistan on:

(a) 15 August 1947
(b) 13 September 1947
(c) 9 November 1947
(d) 20 February 1948

Answer: (a) The accession was announced on 15 August 1947; Pakistan accepted it on 13 September 1947.

Q2. The Arzi Hukumat, the provisional government of Junagadh proclaimed in September 1947, was headed by:

(a) U. N. Dhebar
(b) Samaldas Gandhi
(c) Shah Nawaz Bhutto
(d) N. M. Buch

Answer: (b) Samaldas Gandhi was President of the six-member Arzi Hukumat proclaimed in Bombay on 25 September 1947.

Q3. Consider the following statements about Junagadh in 1947: 1. It had a land border with West Pakistan. 2. Over 80 percent of its population was Hindu according to the 1941 Census. 3. The Government of India took over its administration at the request of the Dewan. Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 and 3 only
(c) 1 and 3 only
(d) 1, 2 and 3

Answer: (b) Junagadh had no land contiguity with Pakistan; it was linked to Karachi only by sea.

Q4. According to the White Paper on Indian States (1950), which were the only two non-acceding states among those geographically contiguous to India?

(a) Hyderabad and Jammu and Kashmir
(b) Junagadh and Jammu and Kashmir
(c) Hyderabad and Junagadh
(d) Travancore and Hyderabad

Answer: (c) The White Paper names Hyderabad and Junagadh as the only two non-acceding states; Jammu and Kashmir had acceded.

Q5. After its integration, the administration of Junagadh was handed over in 1949 to:

(a) Kutch
(b) Saurashtra
(c) Rajasthan Union
(d) Madhya Bharat

Answer: (b) Following resolutions of its elected representatives in December 1948, Junagadh was taken over by the Saurashtra Government in early 1949.

Mains Questions

1. Trace the course of the Junagadh crisis from the Nawab’s accession to Pakistan in August 1947 to the plebiscite of February 1948. (10 marks, 150 words)
2. ‘India invoked popular will in Junagadh but relied on the ruler’s accession in Kashmir.’ Critically examine the consistency of India’s approach to disputed princely accessions. (15 marks, 250 words)
3. Assess the roles of Sardar Patel and V. P. Menon in resolving the Junagadh issue without war. (10 marks, 150 words)
4. How did the fragmented political geography of Kathiawar shape both the Junagadh crisis and its resolution? (10 marks, 150 words)
5. Discuss the political and administrative challenges India faced in integrating the non-acceding princely states, with reference to Junagadh and Hyderabad. (15 marks, 250 words)