A different Mountbatten plan

[Tomislav Addai]

Suppose Britain gave full sovereignty to all princely states of British India first, and then the fate of the provinces was to be decided particularly for each of them.

What could have been the results of such an attitude, except for the obvious balkanization

 

[michael1]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_annexation_of_Hyderabad

 

[Tomislav Addai]

And here is a map:

Dark green: Muslim majority provinces
Green: Muslim ruled and muslim majority states
yellow-green: muslim dynasty,
light green: muslim majority state ruled by nonmuslim dynasty

 

[longsword14]

Suppose Britain gave full sovereignty to all princely states of British India first, and then the fate of the provinces was to be decided particularly for each of them.

What could have been the results of such an attitude, except for the obvious balkanization

Look at it in this way. When the call for partition finally came the groundswell of support was for either India or Pakistan. Even if all princely states are officially granted sovereignty by Mountbatten, I don't think that they will be able to hold on.
Indian Army will be divided in between India and Pakistan, that would ensure that the two will be able to use force if other means do not work.
edit: Hyderabad shown in light green was only ruled by a Muslim class, it did not have a majority Muslim population.

 

[Johannes Parisiensis]

Which princely states might be more likely to survive to one of both major states or to internal insurgencies? Landlocked states are out, since they could be merely blockaded.

edit: Hyderabad shown in light green was only ruled by a Muslim class, it did not have a majority Muslim population.

Hyderabad seems to be gren-yellow.

 

[Indicus]

That would result in the princely states fighting each other, warfare between ethnic groups in places like Jammu and Kashmir, and rulers overthrown in places like Junagadh. Quite frankly, without the British propping them up, many princely states would be overthrown.

The difference is that, instead of one Partition, hundreds would occur in your scenario. I expect far more than a million people dying in this scenario.

 

[longsword14]

The difference is that, instead of one Partition, hundreds would occur in your scenario.

At best half a dozen. Most of them did not have military that could be described as more than police forces.
You could expect them to try and resist militarily but they had almost nil ground support. A few might try and do so anyway, but the result would be repetition of Operation Polo.

 

[Indicus]

At best half a dozen. Most of them did not have military that could be described as more than police forces.
You could expect them to try and resist militarily but they had almost nil ground support. A few might try and do so anyway, but the result would be repetition of Operation Polo.

I mean, Operation Polo killed two hundred thousand people. Honestly, this scenario sounds like it would turn India into something as horrid as South Sudan.

 

[longsword14]

I mean, Operation Polo killed two hundred thousand people. Honestly, this scenario sounds like it would turn India into something as horrid as South Sudan.

India has a very large population. As long as only the new government remains, things would be fine.