At game start Delhi is a military dictatorship under Ganga Singh where popular resentment against the lack of political freedom is about to boil over. The crisis of George V's death and the subsequent Indian-Afghan War then paves the way for the restoration of the constitution and the return of free elections. Who are these strongmen you talk about? Didn't know that Jinnah, B.R. Ambedkar and J.R.D Tata were despots.
It's the remnants of the first Dominion/Home Rule League government established through the 1925 Anglo-Indian Treaty. British rule in India is a controversial subject and the historiography filled with different interpretations. However, to say that the Brits didn't even see the Indians as actual people is going way over board, IMHO.
Honest question: Have you read the lore behind the current setup?
The current incarnation of KR India was first published in 2015, IIRC. It was the first rework done since the mod for HoI2 was released and came about after several years of work and research done by a single guy - yours truly.
Original KR India was split three ways (which is why that was carried on over in the second iteration), but without the Madras Republic. Content-wise, almost nothing existed except a few events regarding building defences against Delhi (for the princes) and some domestic events for Delhi between two fictious political parties. Leader, minister and tech-team files had to be remade from scratch for all three major powers, Nepal, Bhutan, Afghanistan and Burma (the latter being ruled at game start by members of the 1962 junta). Essentially, it was a completely barren part of the mod.
Good to know that the literal years worth of research, coding and scripting that went into the subcontinent's content was done by a not too well-informed developer. Honestly, comments like this are the reason why I never looked back once I decided to stop modding. Honest and constructive criticism is invaluable, but simple demeaning of actual work done by coders and developers is very tiring.