A photo through a post is being widely shared on social media claiming that Sardar Patel went to Maharaja of Jaipur to seek his help in merging the Hyderabad state in India. Let us fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Photo showing that Sardar Patel went to Maharaja of Jaipur to seek help in merging the Hyderabad state in India.
Fact: The photo is from 30 March 1949 when the then Home Minister Sardar Patel declared the Maharaja of Jaipur as the first Rajpramukh of Rajasthan. We could not find any evidence to show that Sardar Patel went to Maharaja of Jaipur to seek his help in merging Hyderabad in India. Sardar Patel planned a military action against the Nizam of Hyderabad as he refused to merge with India. The police action named ‘Operation Polo’ was done by Indian Armed Forces which attacked from three sides on 13 September 1948. The Nizam accepted the accession of Hyderabad State in India, on 17 September 1948. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.
When reverse image search is done on the photo, the same photo was found on Twitter, shared by different users. They have shared this photo to be of Maharaja of Jaipur taking the oath of accession to Indian Union.
Taking a clue that this photo could be related to Jaipur’s merger in India, Indian express archives were found. On 31 March 1949, there was a front-page article about the Maharaja of Jaipur being declared as the Rajpramukh of Rajasthan. On 30 March 1949, Sardar Patel declared the formation of the state of Rajasthan. The day is celebrated as ‘Rajasthan Day’.
We could not find any evidence to show that Sardar Patel went to Maharaja of Jaipur to seek his help in merging Hyderabad in India. Sardar Patel planned a military action against the Nizam of Hyderabad as he refused to merge with India. The police action named ‘Operation Polo’ was done by Indian Armed Forces that attacked from three sides on 13 September 1948. The Nizam accepted the accession of Hyderabad State in India, on 17 September 1948.
Sardar Patel was the Home Minister during that time. Sardar Patel also headed the Ministry of States; the Secretary to that government ministry being VP Menon. VP Menon wrote a book named, ‘The Story of the Integration of the Indian States’, where he wrote about the mergers of various states. Nowhere in the book was it mentioned that Sardar Patel sought the help of Maharaja of Jaipur in merging the Hyderabad State.
To sum it up, there is no evidence to show that Sardar Patel went to Maharaja of Jaipur to seek his help in merging Hyderabad in India.
