REFERANDUM

WHEN INDIA HAD ITS REFERANDUM(‘S) GOAEXIT AND SIKKIMEXIT

Posted on June 27, 2016 by indianhistoryynot

brexit-leave7591You might have heard in news for the past few days about Brexit. It’s a referendum called by the UK government to allow people of Britain to vote in order to decide whether Britain will be part of European Union anymore. This might sound like a new concept to us. In India generally these kind of decisions are taken by the Members of Parliament or State Assembly who are elected by people and is there referendum concept allowed in our constitution? But hold on is it true?

 There has been one referendum or technically two referendum held in independent India.

Goa, Daman and Diu referendum to be a union territory or Goa merge with Maharashtra and Daman, Diu merge with Gujarat

Sikkim referendum to abolish monarchy in turn support to join India as a new state. Techincally as Indian army was present in Sikkim (under the request of then Sikkim Prime minister)when was referendum happened its already part of India (“Techincally”)

 

Goa, Daman and DIU Merging:

Goa now a state of Republic of India was under Portuguese rule for more than 450 years. The Portuguese annexed Goa even before the British landed in India and refused to leave it even after the British left India. The Portuguese left Goa after an armed annexation by Indian government on 19 December 1961. The then Prime minster of Portugal asked to hold a #referendum so that people of Goa can vote whether to join India or not. But Jawaharlal Nehru refused the proposal granted Goa Union territory status and promised to hold a referendum about future of Goa after 10 years thus setting a trigger for a time bomb. (During the annexation of Goa INS Rajput played an important role. If you would have read my article on “Pakistan Submarine which died in its own trap” you will know more about his battleship. Its true world is so small same ship referred in two articles in a gap of two days)

 End of 1966 saw the uprising of factions in Goa politics. By this time all the states in India are separated based on language spoken. Goa lies well within Maharashtra, Daman and Diu within Gujarat. During the first election for Goa in 1963 (after annexed as a part of India) Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party won the elections. This party is a pro Maharashtra merger party. Citing this as a reason the party wanted to simply pass a resolution in the state assembly for the merger with Maharashtra. The opposing party United Goans along with Congress lobbied for a referendum. They argued that the fate of a region cannot be decided by elected representatives but by people themselves. They met Jawaharlal Nehru and convinced him for a referendum. Nehru passed away and the next Prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was also on favor of referendum but he died under some mysterious circumstances in Taskent(Topic for an another article). Indira Gandhi the third prime minister of India agreed for the referendum and passed the law got it approved in parliament and signed by President of India.

 The Referendum was held on 16 January 1967 . Only people who are currently residing in Goa, Daman and Diu are allowed to vote. Postal votes were not taken. At the end the verdict was to continue to be a Union territory and not to merge with Maharashtra/Gujarat. 54.20% voted to be a union territory and 43.50% for a merger.

 

Sikkimexit:

In 1947 when the British left India they held a referendum for people of Sikkim to decide whether to join India or to be independent and Sikkim decided to be independent country. Ah Ah i know you thought this will be an easy one nope. People of Sikkim suddenly after 25 years found that they voted wrongly and wanted to join India. The catch is Sikkim is a constitutional monarchy like Britain. So the king has to approve such a law even though it’s passed by the parliament. On 4th July 1974 the parliament of Sikkim passed a resolution in favor of merging Sikkim to India. 4th September 1974 Indian parliament passed a bill absorbing Sikkim as a part of India. On repeated calls from the ruling government and opposition from the monarchy Indian Army entered into Sikkim disarmed the palace guards and conducted a referendum on 14th April 1975.The results were overwhelming with 90 percent voting for abolition of monarchy and joining India. Indian parliament immediately made changes to the constitution on 26th April 1975 to include Sikkim as the official 22nd state of India

REFERENDUM’S BEFORE INDEPENDENT INDIA (JUNAGADHXIT, FRENCHXIT AND FAILED REFERENDUMS)

Posted on June 28, 2016 by indianhistoryynot

43-referendum_immagine

In my last article we saw the possible referendum’s which occurred in #independentIndia. Now let’s dive into the referendums held before India was a republic. These referendum’s where held during the time of princely states and colonies integration to India. This was headed by Sardar Vallbhai patel also known as the Iron Man of India. Out of the 565 princely states many accepted the integration to India only a few had conflicting views and either wanted to join Pakistan or become an independent country which would probably become an enclave. Enclave is a country whose border is completely covered by a country completely. Sardar Vallbhai Patel was against such an idea and forcibly pushed these states to join India.

Junagadh:

The only princely state which was supporting to join Pakistan which is completely enclaved by India was Junagadh. It’s situated in Gujarat and was ruled by The Nawab of Junagadh, Muhammad Mahabat Khanji III. When the Indian independence was declared he wanted to join Pakistan stating the reason that it’s connected with Pakistan through sea .Lord Mountbatten suggested it as not a good idea as its geographical position is not suitable to join Pakistan. Ignoring this on 15 September 1947 the Nawab acceded to the Dominion of Pakistan .Pakistan accepted it the very next day and Jinnah was happy about this. Two of the states under Junagadh namely Babariawad and Sheikh of Mangrol protested against this and signed instrument of annexation to India. The Nawab of Junagadh send this troops to occupy these states. Saradar Vallabhai saw this as a war against the State of India sent V.P.Menon , the secretary of state’s asking for the Dewan of Junagadh to join India. The Dewan refused the proposal and also didn’t permit V.P.Menon to see the Nizam.

V.P.Menon went to Mumbai and met with Samaldas Gandhi and asked him to start a provisional exile government which India will support in order to overthrow the Nawab. Meanwhile the Indian Army liberated the two states of Babariawad and Mangrol from the Nawab forces. Indian government put up an economic blockade thereby cutting off all supplies to Junagadh. Situation became worse as the possibility of an armed annexation by Indian goverment was becoming possible. The Dewan of Junagadh also the Prime minister of Junagadh decided to ask the help of Pakistan to lift the economic blockade but it went in vain. So they requested Indian goverment to take over Junagadh peacefully and avoided bloodshed.

The Nawab along with his associates and the Prime minister of Junagadh left for the Sindh province of Pakistan .The Indian Army entered Junagadh on 10th November 1947 and held a referendum for people to decide whether they want to be with India or not. The referendum was held on 20th February 1948 and 91 percent of the people voted for joining India. Did you notice I didn’t mention the name of the Prime minister of Junagadh till now wait for it. His name is Sir Shah Nawaz Bhutto, father of the first prime minister of Pakistan Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and the grandfather of the first lady prime minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto. India and Pakistan are so much related Pakistan first prime minister was born in India.

 

French colonies:

The French had a few colonies in India namely

Chandernagore

Pondicherry

Karaikal

Mahe

Yanam

The French goverment signed an agreement with the Indian goverment in 1948 to have a referendum in these places so that the people can decide whether they would like to join India or not. Referendum was held in Chandernagore on 19th June 1949 and 90 percent voted to join India. Referendum were held in Pondicherry and Karaikal on October 1954 and it was also merger majority vote. The French Goverment passed a ratification on May 1962 making them part of India

Places which missed a Referendum:

Jammu and Kashmir:

Jammu and Kashmir king insisted Nehru to have a referendum for people to decide which country they want to select. Initially it was agreed to have a referendum but due to international attention on Kashmir issue the referendum didn’t happen and on January 26 1950 Indian constitution came into force in Kashmir there by making it a part of India.

Hyderabad:

Nizam of Hyderabad wanted the State of Hyderabad to be declared as an independent country .He got the support of Jinnah and even wrote letters to Winston Churchill so his support to pursue the goverment to declare Hyderabad an independent country. India goverment annexed Hyderabad by force and had an initial idea of holding a referendum but dropped the idea later.

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When India had its Referandum(‘s) Goaexit and Sikkimexit

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 “Referendum’s before independent India (Junagadhxit, Frenchxit and failed referendums)”

The interesting part is, post Independence Hyderabad wanted to be a country on its on rite. it was a very large state. And India in all sense attacked Hyderabad. So, in a true sense I find that this is one of the very rare instance were India starts the war on an other rule, technically. But yes, Hyderabad was not a declare country during this “fight”.

Also i feel you incorrectly mentioned that Junagadh was the only Princely state which wanted to join Pakistan. Jodhpur too initially had high interest to join Pakistan because of the Port.