She abolished privy purses on the pretext of “equal rights for all citizens” and to ostensibly free India from the vestiges of a past represented by an unequal monarchical form of government (sic). A cursory history of how Indian provinces fared under kingly rule in the late 1800s to almost till 1947 tells a different story. Baroda, Mysore, Travancore, and Kochi were among the best governed princely states, each competing with the other to deliver quality governance. They provided inspiration to other princely states. Independent India both before and after Indira Gandhi abolished privy purses on the grounds of ensuring a better life for the people needs to show a comparable record in governance or economic attainments. Instead, we have a sorry record of undoing these very attainments of the then recent past.
