Bikaner State was an old princely state situated in the Tharparkar desert of India which came into existence around AD 1465. Its rulers came from the Rathor dynasty of Jodhpur state. Sadul Singh was the king of Bikaner at the time of India's independence. From sending representatives to the Constituent Assembly to the declaration of merger with the Union of India, Bikaner was the leader in all the native states of the country, but the Maharaja was very cautious about his rights in independent India.
On 15 July 1947, Maharaja Sadul Singh wrote a letter to the Prime Minister of India, Nehru, containing 110 paragraphs. The Maharaja wrote that the people of Praja Parishad are doing such propaganda in the state that in the near future there will be Gandhi-Raj in the whole of India and Indian states will also be merged with them. The tricolor will be the only flag. h
But the reality is that neither Gandhiji has such views nor Indian states are going to incorporate their existence in India. This letter gives an impression that even though the king of Bikaner was loudly announcing the union of India, but he also wanted an assurance that his princely state would remain completely independent in independent India.
Firozpur Water Head Works Case
According to the announcement of the British government, the areas to be included in India and Pakistan were to be decided on the basis of Hindu or Muslim majority population. On this basis, Pakistan has established 'Water head works' located in Ferozepur, Punjab. But also made his claim. More than one thousand square miles of land of Bikaner state was irrigated by this canal. Maharaja Sadul Singh, the Prime Minister of Bikaner State, K. Appointed M. Pannikar, Justice Tekchand Bakshi and Chief Engineer Kanwarsen to represent the state of Bikaner.
Pannikar pressurized Sardar Patel, a minister of the princely department and a member of the high-level council for the partition, to ensure that the Ferozepur Head Works would be completely controlled by the Government of India. The Maharaja sent a message to Mountbatten and Patel that if the Ferozepur Head Works and a part of the Gangnahar go to Pakistan, we will have no choice but to join Pakistan. The British understood their problem and assured them that Ferozepur Headworks would remain in India. When the Radcliffe Report was published on 17 August 1947, it was decided to continue with the Ferozepur Head Works in India.
On 6 August 1947, Maharaja Sadul Singh signed the entry deed. On the status quo MoU, the state's Prime Minister K. Signed by M. Pankir. The princely department wrote a letter to the Maharaja informing that the Viceroy and Sardar Patel had expressed their gratitude for the role played by the Maharaja. By signing this agreement within a short period, the Maharaja has sacrificed for the common interest of India and the states.
The Viceroy and Sardar Patel have expressed the hope that with the example presented through this merger letter, a new era of cooperation between India and the states will start in the coming times, which will make the whole country socially, economically and politically strong. Through this entry, the Maharaja handed over all his power over defence, communication and foreign affairs to the central government, and in the rest of the subjects, the Maharaja considered himself independent. Most of the princely states bowed their heads in front of the future and signed the entry deed. The first of these was the Maharaja of Bikaner, who was an old friend of the Viceroy. He signed in a dramatic fashion.
On 15 August 1947, the Maharaja said in a speech- 'With the end of British power, the Indian princely states were at liberty to remain separate and refuse to belong to the new nation. Legally, today we can all be free because the right of suzerainty that we had entrusted to the British Empire, we got it back under the Indian Independence Act. We could have remained separate and not merged with the Indian nation. Just a moment's thought will make it clear how disastrous the result would have been. From the very beginning it was in my mind that this would split India into small pieces. Having prior knowledge of its consequences, I decided without hesitation to cooperate with those elements of India who were working for the establishment of a strong central government.'
After the merger of the native states in India, Sardar Patel thanked Maharaja Sadul Singh and wrote to him that- 'In removing the doubts and confusions created deliberately to take the kings on the wrong path. I am well acquainted with the suffering that the Maharaja had done. The leadership of the Maharaja has certainly been timely and effective.'
In January 1948, a few months after independence, Lord Mountbatten visited Bikaner state. He praised Sadul Singh in his speech and said- 'Maharaja was the first ruler who sent a representative to the Constituent Assembly to help in making the new constitution of India and realized what the king would give to the people in future. To do. The Maharaja was the first ruler who supported my proposals for princely states to join their nearby union.'
On September 2, 1954, President Dr. Rajendra Prasad, while unveiling the statue of Maharaja Sadul Singh in Bikaner, praised his contribution - 'When the calamity of partition of India was coming on one side and the fragments of Bharatvarsha on the other hand The door was being opened to be done, he erected himself with youthfulness, patriotism and foresight and closed the door.'
Arrival of refugees from Pakistan in Bikaner State
Bikaner state had a border of about 320 km with newly created Pakistan. After Bikaner decided to join the Union of India, after crossing this border, lakhs of people came to India from Pakistan and went from India to Pakistan. About 7-8 lakh people were evacuated from India and safely transported to Pakistan. On the border of Bikaner state was Bahawalpur state in which 1.90 lakh Hindus and 50 thousand Sikhs lived.
350 Sikhs and Hindus were killed in Hasilpur of Bahawalpur State. This caused a stampede in other towns and villages of Bahawalpur State. After 15 August 1947, about 75 thousand refugees came to Bikaner state for whom refugee camps were established. Many people were sent to Kolayat, 40 km from Bikaner. Due to the arrival of such a large number of refugees, the systems of the state were disturbed. Arrangements for lodging and food and water were made by the state.
Refugees were accommodated in towns like Kolayat and Sujangarh. A large number of refugees also came to Ganganagar area. These refugees were subjected to a lot of atrocities in Pakistan, so they were ready to take revenge on the Muslims. To keep them calm and not to attack the Muslims, the army was deployed from the state side. The army brought many Muslims safely to the state of Bahawalpur.
When the Mahajans of Churu fired their Muslim servants, they came to Bikaner to the Muslim, Maharaja Sadul Singh. The Maharaja sent the servants back to Churu by special train and asked the moneylenders to put them back in the job. Those who left Bikaner state and went to Pakistan were invited by the Maharaja to settle in Bikaner state again and the Maharaja requested the Indian government to send Hindu refugees who had come to Bikaner state from Pakistan to British India.
Bikaner state allotted 2,58,516 bighas of land to 50,746 refugees from Pakistan. Many Sikhs were surrounded and detained in a district called Rahimyar Khan of Pakistan. The officials of Bikaner state, after talking to the state officials of Bahawalpur, got these refugees evacuated.