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| Mr Governor pursuing Sheikh Abdullah ‘s line would be dangerous | | OMAR INSULTS JAMMU STARK REALITY-I | | RUSTAM
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Sept 9: On September 7, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah virtually insulted the Dogras of Jammu and Maharaja Hari Singh while paying tributes to his grandfather Sheikh Abdullah on his death anniversary. Of course, he did not name them. He also recalled what he called the "noble contribution of Sheikh Abdullah to the development of the state."
What exactly did he say on the occasion? He said: "It was his tireless effort and leadership that galvanized the oppressed people of the State to rise against autocracy and injustice." He also said that the "visionary approach which the late leader adopted won him accolades not only during his times but is cherished even today, after around three decades of his death." Besides, he described Sheikh Abdullah as a "great revolutionary" who "benefited thousands of landless peasants in the State under his regime" and asserted that "when the whole of sub-continent was engulfed in communal flames following partition, it was late Sheikh's resolve and determination" to maintain "communal harmony, which prompted Mahatma Gandhi to proclaim that he saw ray of hope coming from Kashmir during those tumultuous times."
All of the Chief Minister' formulations were highly flawed, provocative, insulting and motivated. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah might have been a boon, but for Kashmir and for a particular Kashmir-based asset. In Jammu and Ladakh, he was the most hated person. Both in Jammu and Ladakh, an overwhelming majority of the people, Hindus and Muslims included, considered him communal, parochial, separatist and intolerant. They at no point of time after 1931 praised him or joined his anti-Maharaja, Kashmir-centric, communal and separatist movement.
The Chief Minister says that Late Sheikh Abdullah "galvanized the oppressed the oppressed people of the State to rise against autocracy and injustice." Which people he talked about? The people of Jammu never ever opposed the Maharaja. On the contrary, they always held him in high esteem because he, like other Dogra rulers was progressive, highly tolerant, accommodating, people-friendly, god-fearing and just and impartial. Can Omar Abdullah cite a single instance to show that the people of Jammu and Ladakh, barring a few disgruntled elements here and there, ever rose in revolt against Maharaja Hari Singh? He cannot because the relations between the ruler and the ruled in both the provinces were highly cordial. The reasons: It was Hari Singh who reorganized the civil and police administration; who handed down to the people modern administration of justice; who established the Board of Judicial Advisors to ensure that the Jammu and Kashmir High Court functioned in the manner the courts functioned in British India; who gave proprietary rights to the people; who enacted a revolutionary Agrarian Relief Act to benefit the agrarian community of the state; who modernized the education system; who established the rule of law by bringing all sections of society, including Rajputs and Brahmins, under the ambit of the Criminal Procedure Code; who threw open all the temples and wells open for all, irrespective of their caste; who treated the Muslims of Kashmir equally with the Hindus of the state; and who established by his words and deeds that he was truly patriot, secular, democrat, liberal and exceptionally passionate.
On the contrary, Sheikh Abdullah preached and practiced communalism; held the Gullible Kashmiri Muslims aloof, instigated them against Hari Singh and blackmailed them emotionally for the sake of personal power and profit; and worked day and night to get Kashmir segregated from Jammu. Not only this, he took on his own senior colleagues like GM Sadiq, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad and Karra because he never tolerated any type of criticism against him, as also because he never trusted anybody. That was the reason he never allowed anyone outside his family to become president of the Muslim Conference/ National Conference. The tradition continues unabated. The Chief Minister cannot cite a single instance to prove that his grandfather had ever talked about the unity and integrity of the State. On the other hand, he can cite instances and instances indicating that the single-point agenda of the Sheikh was to break the State and establish a "Switzerland-type independent Kashmir."
The Chief Minister talks about the late Sheikh's commitment to communal harmony, brotherhood and respect for all, as also about the ray of hope from Kashmir. It's true that Mahatma Gandhi had once said so. But it is also a fact that Gandhi had written to Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz, a close lieutenant of the Sheikh, that "Kashmir would one day become hundred per cent Muslim", which it has become for all practical purposes. It would be better if the Chief Minister goes through the correspondence between the Mahatma and Bazaz. But more than that, he needs to look back and see why did the people, all Hindus and Sikhs, migrate from Muzaffrabad, part of Kashmir province, to Jammu province in the wake of the communal frenzy. They should have migrated to Srinagar, Sheikh Abdullah's area of influence and battleground, but they couldn't because they were not allowed to settle down in Kashmir. It is, however, a different story that the likes of Teja Singh and Sant Singh Teg made common cause with the Sheikh for reasons best known to them.
The fact is that the Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah was an autocrat. He stood and worked for a local oligarchy. He had no space in his scheme of things for any dissent whatever. That he was highly unpopular in Jammu province could be seen from the fact that his administration rejected in 1951 on flimsy grounds all the nomination papers of those in Jammu who wanted to contest election against the National Conference candidates. However, what the Chief Minister said about the Dogras of Jammu without naming them was expected of him. He had made similar remarks in Samba during the 2002 Assembly elections and the result was that the National Conference suffered humiliating defeat then in Jammu province. (To be continued) |
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