Introduction
Nearly two-fifths of India's territory (roughly 565 princely states) was not directly
administered by the British but ruled by hereditary princes under British "paramountcy" and subsidiary
alliances. A parallel political movement grew within these states, demanding responsible, representative
government — distinct from, but increasingly linked to, the mainstream freedom struggle in British India.
Praja Mandal Movement
- "Praja Mandals" (People's Associations/Conferences) were organisations formed within individual princely states, demanding civil liberties, representative institutions, and an end to autocratic princely rule.
- Prominent examples: Mysore, Travancore, Hyderabad, Rajkot, Jaipur, and Kashmir each had active Praja Mandal-type movements through the 1920s-40s.
- The Hyderabad State Congress and the movement against the Nizam's autocratic rule was among the most significant, given Hyderabad's size and later, its contested accession (covered in Chapter 28).
All India States' Peoples' Conference (AISPC)
Flowchart — Coordinating the Princely-State Movement
Individual Praja Mandals across various princely states (from the 1920s)
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All India States' Peoples' Conference founded, 1927 — an umbrella body to coordinate demands across states
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Jawaharlal Nehru became President of the AISPC in 1939, formally strengthening the INC's link with the princely-states movement
Key Features of the Movement
- Initially, the INC officially stayed at arm's length from princely-state politics, treating it as a separate concern from British India's constitutional struggle — but individual Congress leaders and Congress-aligned local organisations were often deeply involved.
- Demands typically centred on responsible government, civil liberties (press, association), and representative legislatures — echoing the mainstream nationalist demand but directed at hereditary princes rather than the British Crown.
- This groundwork became crucial after 1947, when the political mobilisation built by Praja Mandals fed directly into the movements for democratic integration of these states into the Indian Union (see Chapter 28).
📌 Key State Movements Often Tested: Travancore State Congress, Mysore's Congress-aligned movement, the Hyderabad State Congress (led by figures such as Swami Ramananda Tirtha), and the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference (led by Sheikh Abdullah, which launched the "Quit Kashmir" movement against the Dogra ruler in 1946).
✅ UPSC Focus: AISPC founding year (1927) and Nehru's presidency (1939) · Key state-level movements and their leaders · Distinction between demands directed at princes vs demands directed at the British Crown.