What was the Butler Committee Report? Discuss the reactions on the Report in India.

What was the Butler Committee Report? Discuss the reactions on the Report in India.

Butler Committee Report:

    The Indian States Committee was appointed in 1927 to look into relationship between the British Crown and the Indian States.

    Sir Butler was its chairman and the report came to be called as Butler Committee report.

    After holding consulations with 16 states, Butler committee report concluded that

1. Paramountancy should be paramount(which was ambiguous and caused lot of confusion  among the pricely states)
2. The Indian States should not be mandated to negotiate with to an Indian responsible government without their will and consent.
3. However, if they consent they can be permitted.
4. Right to protect includes the right to internal intervention(this left open the possibility for the British to meddle in the infernal affairs of princely states).
5. The committee did not define the concept of paramountancy and left it vague and open. The hydra- headed nature of the concept caused fear and resent rent among the Indian princes, who organised themselves by setting up of All India Union.

The nationalists criticized the report . They perceived it as on attempt to drive a wedge in the national movement by inciting the Indian states against the rising tide of nationalism.