Since India and Pakistan became independent just one year ago, 561 of 562 princely states have joined either one dominion or the other: The holdout is Hyderabad, about the size of Minnesota, whose ruler, the Nizam, is said to be the richest man in the world. Last week, under pressure to become part of India, Hyderabad appealed to the U .N. Security Council for help in preserving its independence. In Hyderabad, TIME Correspondent Robert Lubar examined Hyderabad's cold war with India, which may touch off a new wave of Hindu-Moslem warfare. Lubar cabled:
From Delhi, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, the tough Minister for States Affairs, has hurled a challenge at the Nizam: "Accede or die." Even peace-talking Premier Jawaharlal Nehru threatened Hyderabad. With contempt he said: "It is a completely wrong notion to talk of war with Hyderabad ... If there are to be wars they must be with free countries. But ... if and when it is considered necessary we shall have military operations against Hyderabad."
Since India surrounds Hyderabad, Patel and Nehru could probably make good their threat. The Nizam, however, had a counter-threat. A dagger-eyed little man named Kasim Razvi calmly threatened to protect Hyderabad by starting another series of India-wide communal massacres.
Belter to Receive. Perhaps the Nizam could restrain Razvi and his fellow Moslem fanatics; but it is hard to tell what the Nizam will do next. Not much was known about the man upon whom the fate of India might depend. The 62-year-old Nizam has never traveled out of India, has left his domain only twice in the past 15 years—once to Delhi and once to Calcutta. Now he ventures out of his palace only on two occasions: each afternoon at 4:20 he visits his mother's tomb, every Friday he prays at a public mosque.
The Nizam prefers to receive rather than give. To his last birthday party he invited 1,156 Hyderabadis to dinner. Each one paid, according to the established custom, a door fee in gold and silver worth $50. The total take, $57,800, would pay his personal food bill for 395 years. Says his caterer, who was once maitre d'hotel at London's Grosvenor House: "The food he consumes in a day costs less than two bob [40¢]." His presents are far from lavish. Last month his British adviser, Sir Walter Monckton, sent Richard Beaumont, a young secretary, to Hyderabad for some papers. As a gesture of gratitude the Nizam handed Beaumont a present—a $2.50 pen & pencil set.
Privileged Minority. On the other hand, the Nizam spends some of his fortune for the public good. He gave $500,000 toward the building of Osmania University. Hyderabad City has the widest, cleanest streets in India, more and better looking hospitals than any other Indian city, a school for the deaf and blind, housing projects for the poor.