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| Maharaja Hari Singh was equally responsible for delay in accession: Sawhney | | | Early Times Reporter
Jammu | Oct 28
RSS, Praja Parishad, Jan Sang and BJP have all through last 60 years absolved Maharaja Hari Singh of any responsibility for delay in effecting J&K's accession with India. Rather they have always defended Hari Singh's indecision in the matter, citing compulsion of situation under which he was placed as well as the peculiar geo-strategic location of Jammu and Kashmir in the subcontinent as well as South-East Asia and the pressure on him from various quarters, including the overwhelming Muslim majority population of the state as well as their supporters in neighbouring Punjab. A senior RSS and BJP leader, Kidarnath Sawhney, who was the Chief Guest at a function organized by Trikuta Sanvad Kendra, an RSS floated media centre, to mark the 60 years of J&K's accession with India on October 26 perhaps for the first time held Maharaja Hari Singh equally responsible for the delay in exceeding J&K state to India, thus complicating the matters and leading to the situations, we are faced with today.
The Sang parivaar organizations, including a great ideologue, historian and writer Balraj Madhok as well as many other writers subscribing to this view point have held the Triokota of Nehru, Mount Batten and Sheikh Abdullah exclusively responsible for the mess up as well as the accession taking place after the deadline set under Indian Independent Act under which the rulers of princely state were given the sole authority to exceed their states either of the two dominions by 15 th August 1947. Balraj Madhok, the founder of Praja Parishad in Jammu and Kashmir and one of the founder members of All India Jan Sang and its President for one term, who was a professor of history in DAV college Srinagar and was personally witness to all the happenings and developments in Jammu and Kashmir just before and soon after the partition of the country, with dilemma faced by the ruler of this state over his choice and course of action to be adopted by him, has in his several books held Jawaharlal Nehru's antipathy for Maharaja Hari Singh and his weakness for Sheikh Abdullah as well as Lord Mount Batten's motivation of British imperialist interests and Sheikh Abdullah's dream to become absolute ruler of the state, which caused delay in accession, leading to all the consequences which we are facing today. Similarly another research scholar on J&K's history right from Ghulab Singh's coronation as the Maharaja of Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh till after J&K's accession with India and transfer of power to Sheikh Abdullah, in his book "British Diplomacy in Kashmir"' has also totally absolved Maharaja Hari Singh for any delay in exceeding the state to India. He has out and out defended Maharaja Hari Singh's initial indecision, on account of compulsion of the situation, location of the state, with all its links with rest of the world through territory which was to form part of Pakistan as well as the pressure on him by the leaders of the Muslim community in J&K, who formed overwhelming majority of population.
Kidarnath Sawhney, a former Chief Executive Metropolitan Council of Delhi, controlled by Jan Sang and also a former Governor of Goa, who too was eye witness to the happenings and developments those days and was present in the state, has struck a discordant note to this line of thinking and presentation of historical perspective. Recalling the day to day events between August and October 1947, Sawhney told the gathering that under the influence of some wrong advisors with vested interests, Maharaja Hari Singh was living in an illusion that he could remain independent and prolong the stand still agreement with India as well as Pakistan. According to him he was ill advised by some sycophants, including his then Prime Minister Ram Chand Kak his Chief of the army staff a Britisher and a brother of his wife Maharani Tara Devi and gave sympathetic ears to them, while he would not listen to the sound advice given to him by eminent person like Rai Bahdur Badrinath, Pt Premnath Dogra as well as RSS Chief M S Gholvalkar and many others for accessing the state to India before the deadline.
Sawhney however held Nehru, Mount Batten and Abdullah equally responsible for the delay, as they never approached Maharaja Hari Singh asking for state's accession to India. While Mount Batten implicitly advised him to exceed to Pakistan, Nehru was more keen for power in the state to be transferred to Sheikh Abdullah than for state's accession with India. Even Mahatma Gandhi who had visited Kashmir and held talks with Hari Singh never advised the latter to exceed to India, according to Mr. Sawheny. While the designate Indian rulers were complacent over the matter and did not accord J&K's accession with India any priority, the designated rulers of Pakistan, including Mohammed Ali Jinnah put extreme pressure on Hari Singh for exceeding to Pakistan. |
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