RAS question
The All India States' People's Conference (AISPC) session held at Udaipur in 1945 was significant because:
Correct answer: (A) It declared that princely states must join the Indian Union and establish responsible government.
At its 1945 Udaipur session, the All India States' People's Conference asserted that princely states should establish full responsible government and become integral parts of a free India.
Explanation
The Udaipur session matters because it placed the princely states inside the wider freedom struggle, not outside it. Jawaharlal Nehru presided over the 1945 AISPC session, and the conference declared the need for responsible government and eventual union with India. The Nehru Archive text records Nehru arguing that the states' people had moved with the rest of India, criticising autocratic state governments, and stating the basic policy that there should be full responsible government in the states as integral parts of a free India. That position gave ideological force to Praja Mandal politics across Rajasthan.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) The significance recorded here is Nehru's AISPC policy line on responsible government and integration, not any appointment of Manikya Lal Verma as leader of all Praja Mandals.
- (C) The session addressed the Indian States as part of free India as a whole, so it was not a Rajputana-only demand for British withdrawal.
- (D) The session points to democratic responsible government and integration, not a decision to launch armed revolution against princely states.
Concept
This tests the States People's Movement and Praja Mandal phase of Rajasthan's freedom struggle. RAS repeatedly uses such sessions to connect local princely-state politics with the larger question of responsible government and integration.