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| Conspiracy against Jammu Sheikh assured loyalty to Hari Singh for personal power | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Feb 9: The BJP has once again held Jawaharlal Nehru responsible for all the troubles in Jammu and Kashmir and demanded a radical change in the Kashmir policy. It has said that had Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah of National Conference not joined hands on the eve of Indian Independence and immediately thereafter, the situation in the state would have been totally different and the state would have been brought at par with other states of the Union in 1947.
There are potent reasons to endorse the viewpoint of the BJP, notwithstanding its acts of omission and commission, including the controversial handling of Kashmir by the BJP-led government between 1998 and 2004. It would be no exaggeration to say that if the Congress bungled in 1947 and created the problem in Kashmir by making common cause with communal forces in the Valley, the BJP also bungled when it extended the hand of friendship to Pakistan and virtually endorsed the unsettling and divisive Musharaff's four-point Kashmir formula. The Congress-led UPA Government is simply treading the dangerous path the BJP under the leadership of Atal Bihari Vajpayee charted for the country in order to achieve the unachievable: Peace with Pakistan.
The fact of the matter is that both the Congress and the BJP are the culprits and both have messed up things in Kashmir. It's no wonder then that the nation continues to suffer, Pakistan continues to bleed India with a thousand cut and the handful of communalists and separatists in Kashmir continue to pose a live danger to the unity and integrity of India and the country's liberal and democratic ethos.
Apart from the BJP, which has surprisingly upped its ante and demanded reversal of the Kashmir policy, saying the Nehruvian model has only accentuated the problem in Kashmir, there are others who have accused Nehru and Sheikh of hatching a conspiracy against the Maharaja of the State, Hari Singh, with a view to depriving Jammu of the political status it enjoyed between 1846 and 1947. During this period, Jammu ruled the State of Jammu and Kashmir. Kashmir had become part of Jammu Kingdom in March 1846 under the Treaty of Amritsar. The critics of Nehru and Sheikh have opined that both these Kashmiri leaders had worked out a plan in order to ensure transfer of political power from Jammu to Kashmir, as also to ensure the ouster of Hari Singh from the State so that Sheikh Abdullah could enjoy power, ride roughshod and rule the State in the manner he wanted.
These critics also opine that Nehru (who was number one enemy of Hari Singh because he had got him arrested at Kohala in 1946) and his men had worked out a plan under which Sheikh Abdullah would tender an apology to the Maharaja for whatever he had done in the past against him and his government, Maharaja would proclaim amnesty and release from the jail Sheikh Abdullah and Sheikh Abdullah would become the Prime Minister of the State.
Here again, there are cogent reasons to endorse the view of those who accuse Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah of hatching a conspiracy with a view to achieving what has been referred to above. Take, for example, what happened in the State on September 26, 1947 and thereafter. Maharaja Hari Singh proclaimed general amnesty and Sheikh Abdullah was released. On September 26, 1947, sheikh Abdullah wrote a letter to the Maharaja. The letter, among other things, read like this: "In spite of what has happened in the past (his incarceration for about 18 months) I assure Your Highness that myself and my party (National Conference) have never harboured any sentiment of disloyalty towards Your Highness' person, throne or dynasty. The development of this beautiful country (read Kashmir) and the betterment of its people (read Kashmiris) is our common aim and interest and I assure Your Highness the fullest and loyal support of myself and my organization. In order to achieve the common aim set forth above, mutual trust and confidence must be the main step. Without this it would not be possible to face successfully the great difficulties that upset our State on all sides at present. Before I close this letter, I beg to assure Your Highness once again of my steadfast loyalty and pray that God may grant me opportunity enough to make this country attain under Your Highness' aegis such an era of peace, prosperity and good Government that it may be second to none and be an ideal for others to copy." (To be continued) |
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