INDIAN RULER DEPOSED

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26397, 16 April 1951, Page 7

INDIAN RULER DEPOSED

Maharaja Of Baroda

(Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW DELHI, April 14. The Indian Government to-day deposed the Maharaja of Baroda (Sir Pratapsinha Gaekwar), according to an announcement made by the Prime Minister (Mr Nehru) in the Indian Parliament. Mr Nehru said action had been taken against the ruler for defying the authority of the Indian Government, organising and financing activities to undo the Constitution, and supporting reactionary elements. The 43-year-old Maharaja will- lose not only his ruler’s title but also a privy purse of £200,000. The Government has given the Maharaja one month to appeal to the President of India (Dr. Rajendra Prasad) against the decision.

Mr Nehru read to a packed House the President’s order withdrawing recognition from the Maharaja. The order referred particularly to the Maharaja's efforts to prevent the Indian Government’s merger of the State of Baroda with Bombay. The Maharaja’s 21-year-old son, Yuvraj Fateh Singh, succeeds him as the ruler of 3.000 000 Indians in a State of 8000 square miles. The Maharaja is regarded as the second richest man in India, next nnly to the fabulously wealthy Nizam of Hyderabad. His personal fortune is estimated at from £9,000.000 to £11,000,000. His collection of jewels is valued at more than £2.000,000. The Maharaja’s son will not succeed to the privy purse of £200,000 which the Maharaja loses. The Indian Government has granted the son £75,000 a year. The son will also succeed to palaces in Delhi and Bombay which are now State property. Like his father, hp will have no ruling power. This power was yielded to the Bombay State Government on the merger of Baroda. At the Maharaja’s palace in Delhi, where he has been in the last four days, his personal flag, which he has lost the right to fly. was lowered immediately on receipt of the deposition order.