Now the honourable Member from Kolhapur raised several controversial issues so far as the administration of Kolhapur is concerned. I do not think it would so far as the administrative routine and the difficulties of that administration at this stage. Perhaps the House is aware of the Committee of Enquiry which was appointed by the Government of India to go into the administration of this state, presided over by a Judge of the High Court of Bombay. The Report of Justice Coyajee has already been published and I would request those honourable Members who come from the States and who are interested in this affair to read that report. It is a very sad state of things which has been described in that report. After the unfortunate incident of the murder of Mahatma Gandhi, a group of people took it into their heads to harass and molest people called Brahmins in that area, because a Brahmin young man was supposed to be responsible for that murder. A whole family bearing that name was burnt alive. Several houses of the Brahmins were burnt, property looted and tremendous persecution torture was practised on a large scale. There was a popular Ministry at the time. There was no administrator at the time. Our friend from Kolhapur said that the administration of the administrator who was a Civil servant was the opposite of heaven in parliamentary language. You ask those people who suffered during the days of persecution whether what he described as a popular government was really heaven or hell of the worst type. I do not think we would be justified in being proud of our democracy if popular administrations behave in this manner. It is a very sad thing. We appointed an administrator with the consent of the Prince. The Prince asked for an administrator. That report condemns the Ministers. I do not wish to proceed further in the matter. What he says is that a time should be fixed by which a plebiscite can be taken of the people of Kolhapur for the merger. Evidently from his speech I gather that he is against merger. Well, we are not forcing on the people of any area or any State if the people do not want merger. If the people stand for merger at one time and at another time for keeping the States separate, if they want merger if there is no ministry and are against merger if they are in the ministry, it is not easy to take a plebiscite, there is a danger of terrorising people and practising criminal acts of violence on a very large scale. I can assure the House that no State has been merged against the wishes of the people and there have been no complaints in the case of any merger up till now. In future also there will be no complaints from any quarter except those who stand out against the general wishes of the people of that area for personal reasons. Whatever we have done up till now has been done with the will and the free will of the Princes as well as of the people of that area. I can say this also, that some of the Princes, smaller Princes, who first signed the merger agreement, long time afterwards on second thought complained, perhaps on some advice given to them by some lawyers, and wanted to question the merger agreement in court. I advised them not to waste money over lawyers and courts and that if they wanted to go back on the merger agreement, I would tear up the merger papers and allow them to go but that they should not return and come to me for safety or security. When I accepted their merger, it was at a time when I had to give them protection because the administration that they were carrying on in those areas was so unpleasant that the people in some cases took possession of the palaces. Therefore, the question of a merger now is not very important because most of the States have either formed unions or have merged and there are those that have remained out. There are Princes who, if they are convinced that it is in the interest of the country as a whole that they should make further sacrifices, will be prepared to do so. If there is any Prince who takes a recalcitrant attitude, then it will not be for me to do anything in the matter. It will be between him and the people to settle accounts.
