The Bhopal Succession Case

Immediately after Nasrullah’s burial, the knives were out and the battle for succession was on. Sultan Jahan hastily consulted lawyers, advisors and loyalists and ten days after the heir apparent’s death, shot off three letters to King George V, the Secretary of State for India and the Resident informing them that she had decided to ‘appoint’ Hamidullah as her successor in accordance with Muslim law. Habibullah, the eldest son of Nasrullah, also fired off his claim to succession so that both parties had taken up positions in their trenches in anticipation of a protracted war

In a nutshell and over-simplifying an extremely complex legal issue, Habibullah’s case rested on the relatively straight forward claim of primogeniture, recognized by the British in matters relating to succession. Primogeniture had also been adopted in a number of princely states, both Muslim and Hindu, particularly since the Mutiny in 1857.

The Begum’s case in favor of Hamidullah was more complex. It rested on a combination of the following considerations.

1. The Begum’s right to nominate a successor.
2. Muslim law, which considered a surviving son to have a superior claim over a grandson from a pre-deceased elder son.
3. Precedent in Muslim states favoring a son over a grandson
4. Hamidullah being ‘more capable’ than Habibullah and the Bhopal public’s ‘preference’ for him
5. The 1818 treaty between Bhopal and the East India Company
6. The 1862 Canning Sanad – given by Viceroy Lord Canning to Sikandar Begum.

In their reports to Delhi, Glancy and Jelf, the Political Agent, analyzed the competing claims. They came out in favor of Hamidullah, claiming that a decision in favor of Habibullah would play havoc in Bhopal’s political and social balance. They advised that, if Delhi decided in favor of Habibullah, the decision should not be revealed until after the Begum’s death. Glancy ended his letter with following warning:

Unless we wish to face a storm for no reason, I believe we shall be well advised to recognize Hamidullah Khan.

However, after three reviews on requests from the Viceroy, the case was finally decided in favor of Habibullah by the Viceroy’s legal and political advisors, in accordance with the rule of primogeniture. On 10 April 1925, the Viceroy recorded his verdict, the operative paragraph of the note read as follows:

I can find no ground in all the material submitted to me, which I have carefully studied, for Her Highness’s contention that Hamidullah should succeed. I come to the conclusion that the law of primogeniture should be applied and that the heir apparent is the elder son of the deceased Nawab, the eldest grandson of Her Highness.

The Viceroy’s comments along with the document prepared by his staff, were then circulated to the seven-member Viceroy’s Council, comprising three Indians (two Hindus, one Muslim) and four Britons. On 13 May 1925, the Council confirmed the Viceroy’s recommendations, the Chairman, B. N. Sharma, recording laconically, “I am sorry for the Begum, but Fiat Justitia.”

Meanwhile, both the Begum and Hamidullah had their informers hovering around the Secretariat in Delhi. The Begum soon found out that the case had gone against her. She charged out of her thicket like a wounded tigress to fiercely lobby every influential person that she could approach. The included fellow princes, the Aga Khan, British civil servants, her own ulema, jagirdars and gentry whom she began to browbeat into supporting Hamidullah. Eventually, the only concession given to her by the Viceroy, who acknowledged her deep loyalty to the British Crown, was that the Bhopal succession would not be decided in Delhi and was sufficiently important to be referred to London.

The die was cast. The Begum’s case had been rejected, her goose cooked.