The
Nizam of Hyderabad, who had previously received a three-month extension to agree new arrangements with the Dominion of India, wrote to the Government of India on 18 September that he was willing to make a treaty of association with India. But he maintained that an accession would lead to disturbance and bloodshed in the state. On 11 October, Hyderabad sent a delegation to Delhi with a draft Standstill agreement, which was characterised as "elaborate" by
V. P. Menon, the secretary of the
States Department. The States minister
Vallabhbhai Patel rejected any agreement that would not completely cede Defence and External affairs to the Government of India. Upon the advice of Governor General
Louis Mountbatten, Menon prepared a new draft agreement which was sent back with the Hyderabad delegation. The Executive Council of the Nizam discussed the agreement and approved it with six votes to three. Nizam expressed acceptance but delayed signing the agreement. Soon the Nizam came under pressure from
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (
Ittehad), the Muslim nationalist party that was active in the state, and backed off from the agreement. On the morning of 27 October,
Qasim Rizvi, the leader of
Ittehad, organised a massive demonstration of several thousand activists to blockade the delegation's departure. He persuaded the Nizam that, since India was then tied up with in
Kashmir, it had insufficient resources to pressure Hyderabad. He claimed that an agreement considerably more favourable to Hyderabad was possible. The Nizam then appointed a new delegation dominated by the Executive Council members that opposed the previous agreement. Former Hyderabad bureaucrat Mohammed Hyder called this event the "October Coup". From this point on, Qasim Rizvi began to call the shots in the Hyderabad administration. The new delegation secured only trivial amendments to the earlier draft of the agreement. It laid down that all agreements and administrative arrangements then existing between the British Crown and the Nizam would continue with the Government of India. These included defence, external affairs and communications (the three subjects normally covered in the Instrument of Accession). Agents would be exchanged between Hyderabad and India. The Government of India agreed to renounce the functions of
paramountcy. The Standstill agreement was to remain in force for a period of one year. The agreement was signed by the Nizam on 29 November 1947. Significantly, the agreement did not provide for the Dominion of India to station Indian forces in the state, whereas British India had maintained various
cantonments, particularly in
Secunderabad, as part of its "
subsidiary alliance" with state. Over the course of the next 6 months, the Indian troops were withdrawn from the state. According to
K. M. Munshi, who was appointed as India's Agent General in Hyderabad, Indians felt that entering into a Standstill agreement with Hyderabad meant that India had lost its grip on Hyderabad affairs. The
Hyderabad State Congress opposed it because it was seen as a sign of weakness by the government of India.
V. P. Menon has stated that Nizam and his advisers viewed the agreement as providing breathing space during which the Indian troops would be withdrawn and the state could build up its position so as to assert independence. Hyderabad was accused of violating clauses of the agreement: in external affairs, by carrying out intrigues with Pakistan, to which it secretly loaned 15 million pounds; in defence, by building up a large semi-private army; in communications, by interfering with the traffic at the borders and the through traffic of
Indian railways. India was also accused of violating the agreement by imposing an economic blockade. It turned out that the state of
Bombay was interfering with supplies to Hyderabad without the knowledge of Delhi. The Government promised to take up the matter with the provincial governments, but scholar Lucien Benichou states that it was never done. India also delayed arms shipments to Hyderabad from India, which was later claimed to be a breach of the standstill agreement. More seriously, the
Ittehad promoted vast armed bands of
razakars who threatened communal peace inside the state as well as along the border. After multiple rounds of negotiations, the government of India delivered an ultimatum on 31 August 1948, demanding a ban on the razakars and the stationing of Indian troops in the state to keep law and order. When these were denied, India invaded the state on 13 September sending in troops via three access routes. The Nizam after four days had agreed to Indian demands. Subsequently, he signed the Instrument of Accession in November 1948. == Notes ==