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| Today is the Accession Day | | | Neha
JAMMU, Oct 25: It was on October 26 sixty six years ago that Jammu and Kashmir acceded to India as per the constitutional law on the subject. It was a landmark day in the political history of India, as it was on that historic day that the Maharaja of the State, Hari Singh, defeated the evil game plan of Pakistan and linked for ever the fate of the people of his State with India. Not that Jammu and Kashmir was not part of India before 1947; it was an integral part of India socially and culturally and since time immemorial. Indeed, it was part and parcel of the Indian civilization in every respect and it will remain so for ever. It's no wonder that the patriotic sections of society in Jammu and Kashmir celebrate October 26 every year as accession day with great pomp and show.
However, it is also time to debunk those who question the State's accession to India saying the state only acceded but did not merge with India. Accession means merger and nothing else and only those who believe in the pernicious two-nation theory put forth such nasty and communal formulations. It is disgusting that those at the helm of affairs in New Delhi do not take action against those who misuse their official position to satisfy their communal constituency and say on the floor of the assembly and outside that Jammu and Kashmir only acceded and not merged with India and that "by repeating the word Atoot Ang you cannot change the political status of Jammu and Kashmir".
Any way, what the likes of Omar Abdullah say is not an issue at all, as the nation doesn't buy their spurious and communal argument. The real issue is that Jammu and Kashmir was one of the 560-odd princely states whose political future was to be decided by their respective rulers. They took the decision and the princely states joined the Dominion of their choice. There were two Dominions - India and Pakistan. The Indian Dominion was the natural choice of Maharaja Hari Singh -- who had played a remarkable role in the Roundtable conference in London and demanded independence of India from the British -- and he merged his State with India. The then Governor-General of India Lord Mountbatten had urged Maharaja Hari Singh to join the Pakistani Dominion, but the latter contemptuously dismissed his suggestion and waited for an opportune moment to link the fate of his State with India. Remember, Jammu and Kashmir was not the only State which acceded to India after August 1947. There were a number of other States which joined the Indian Dominion after that date. Take, for example, Jodhpur.
Many Kashmiri leaders and Pakistan say Jammu and Kashmir was a Muslim-majority State and, hence, it was imperative for the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir to accede his State to the Muslim Pakistan. But they conceal the fact that the princely States were not part of the partition plan. It was British India which was to be divided on the basis of two nation theory and it was divided to fulfill the communal urges of the Muslim Leaguers. As for the princely States, they were free to exercise one of the two options as per the Indian Independence Act of 1947. They could join either India or Pakistan. There was no third option available to them.
It is an irony that the State Government closes down all Government and semi-Government establishments across the State on July 13 every year saying it is a martyrs' day, but does not allow the people celebrate the accession day by declaring October 26 as a holiday. On July 13, 1931, the communal forces in Kashmir revolted against Jammu, attacked symbols of the State and in the process a few rebels got killed. The State Government terms this day as martyrs' day. The State Government would do well to pass an order to the effect that there will be no holiday on July 13 and that the state would observe holiday on October 26 every year and remember Maharaja Hari Singh, who took the momentous decision on the State's political future. |
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