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| Delhi subverted democracy in J&K from day one to appease Kashmir | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
RUSTAM
JAMMU, Nov 21: As for the other issue, Prof K T Shah opined: “You must also not forget that the events that have happened have invested the other countries (United States and United Kingdom) and the sister Dominion (Pakistan) and those outside with interest in the matter. That being so they will not take any decision unilaterally made by us without demur. If you want to have peace restored, if you want to live in peace with your neighbour, you should not give needless occasion for them to say that here you are purchasing a design and committing an act and taking steps whereby your own declarations, and what is more, whatever interests the others (the people of Jammu and Ladakh) may have are being jeopardized. If that is going to be a slur on the good name of this country, and its claim to stand always for the people or for those who are oppressed, then I think that it is not too much to demand that the representatives in this case should be wholly elected, and should be the true reflex of the people…”
It is important to note that all of Prof. Shah’s pleas, coupled with an unambiguous warning regarding the grave evils that would follow on the introduction of the formula as suggested by the official motion, were turned down by Ayyangar and Prime Minister Nehru. Both of them defended the motion, which, in a sense, was designed to undermine the importance of the people, the Praja Sabha, and the State ruler. And, all this, despite the fact that both of them had candidly acknowledged that the process they had suggested for the State was “not ideal”.
It would be only desirable to quote what Prime Minister said in defence of the motion. He said: “It amazed me to hear Shah propose that the so-called Praja Sabha of Kashmir should send representatives to this House. He should know that there is nothing more bogus than the Praja Sabha…He ought to know that the whole circumstances under which the last elections were held in 1946-1947 were fantastic and farcical. He ought to know that it was boycotted by all decent people…And the type of people who got in the Praja Sabha was the type who had opposed the freedom movement throughout, who had done every injury possible to the idea of freedom of Kashmir till then…”
“…That is the kind of body referred to; it is the bogus body, it is really no body at all; it is the disembodied spirit…I admit that it is not desirable for any member of this House to come by nomination or be selected by some narrow process. Though the process suggested for Kashmir is not ideal, yet I do think that it is the better process…It is the process where you get a popular government with representative of the popular party at the head of it recommending to the ruler that certain names should go. Even from the view of democracy, that is not an incorrect process. It is hundred per cent correct.”
However, what was most surprising was the attitude of other members of the Constituent Assembly. All (or nearly all) of them either sided with Ayyangar and Jawaharlal Nehru or adopted an indifferent attitude to the otherwise heated debate on a subject of far reaching importance. As a result, the Ayyangar formula was adopted. The immediate fall-out of this decision was the entry into the Constituent Assembly of Sheikh Abdullah and his nominees, Mirza Afzal Beg, Maulana Masoodi and Moti Ram Baigra.
Thus, commenced an era in which the people’s democracy became the first casualty. One may or may not agree, but it is a fact that all the elections, with a couple of exceptions, have been rigged by the Valley’s ruling class, with the Election Commission of India taking no cognizance. If one really wishes to determine the extent of rigging, one has only to look at the statistics relating to the 1951 elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent-cum-Legislative Assembly. Statistics show that 73 of the 75 National Conference candidates were returned to the House unopposed. It could happen only because the state administration rejected wholesale the nomination papers of all the non-NC candidates, who also wanted to contest elections to this supreme body, which was not only to frame a constitution for the State but also to legislate on matters, politico-administrative and socio-cultural. The details on other polls reveal the same thing. It is Delhi that itself subverted democracy in the state and it is Delhi that has been allowing the Kashmiri leadership to murder democracy. (Concluded)
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