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 7. Did these factors, however, really segregate the States from the Provinces and create an impassable political barrier between them? The freedom of the Indian States from foreign subjugation was only relative; the Paramount Power controlled the external affairs of the States and exercised wide powers in relation to their internal matters. The whole of the country was, therefore, in varying degrees under the sway of the British Government. Besides, in the context of the demand for India's freedom the degree of control exercised by the British ceased to have any meaning. Nor was there any reason to over-emphasize the political difference between the States and the Provinces. There was nothing incompatible between the systems of governance in the Provinces and the States provided the supremacy of the common popular interests was recognised and representative and responsible Governments were established in the States.

8. India was, then, not only a geographical and cultural continuum but also one economic and political entity. The problem of statesmanship in that case could not merely be to hold the two Indias together. The real problem was how to bring about a clearer appreciation on the part of all political elements in India that they were heirs to the heritage of the common culture of India, and how to weld the States and the Provinces together to raise India to her full stature.

9. On 3rd June, 1947, the plan for the partition of India was announced, and accepted by the principal political parties in India. The period of one year following that fateful day will go down as a most momentous one in India's history not only because it was during this year that India attained her freedom, but also because it has witnessed a mighty interplay of two powerful forces. One has been the disruptive force of communal exclusiveness which has led to the secession from India of certain territories and their constitution into an independent State. The other has been the revitalising and uniting force of enlightened mutual interests in a free and resurgent India which has swept away the barriers that separated the Indian States and the Provinces. How far in balance one process has set off the other is for the future to unfold.

10. During the recent months, a tremendous change has come over the Indian States. This change has been brought about by a process of two-fold integration, firstly, consolidation into sizable and viable administrative units, and, secondly, growth of democratic institutions and responsible governments. This bloodless revolution has been brought about, on the one hand, by the operation of democratic forces unleashed by freedom,