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| Kamaal's Delhi Agreement: Myth & Reality | | A White Lie | | Rustam
JAMMU, Nov 4: "Speak a lie a hundred times and it becomes a truth." This is actually happening in J&K. The NC leaders, including the newly-appointed additional general secretary and chief spokesperson Sheikh Mustafa Kamal, want everyone to believe in something that didn't really exist. They have, it seems, succeeded in beguiling the Union Home Ministry and others, including Delhi-based commentators. This is evident from the scores of political commentaries and reports that have regularly appeared in several leading national dailies and magazines, as also evident from a number of TV programmes.
Kamaal on Wednesday referred to what he called the "Delhi Agreement" and suggested that it had recognized Jammu and Kashmir as an autonomous region. He had told to reporters that the "accession of Jammu and Kashmir with India was conditional" and that "according to the (1952) Delhi Agreement, the state for all practical purposes is (an) autonomous region in (the) Indian Union under constitutional guarantees".
Was Kamaal factually correct when he talked about the so-called Delhi Agreement and suggested that the state under the said agreement is an autonomous region in the Indian Union? He was factually incorrect. In fact, what he said was a white lie. It is, however, true that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and the Jammu and Kashmir "Wazir-e-Azam" (Prime Minister) Sheikh Abdullah, and their aides got involved in negotiations between June 14 and July 24, 1952, to work out an arrangement that would regulate the Centre-State relations. It was the outcome of these lengthy and tortuous parleys that Kamal and other NC leaders term as the "Delhi Agreement". They say "it was signed on July 24 by Nehru and the Sheikh." But this is one side of story. The other is far more interesting and startling. It, in the words of Farooq Abdullah, is that "it was Parliament which (ratified the 'Delhi Agreement' and) promised autonomy" and that the "Bill (to this effect was) piloted (on July 24) by (the) then Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru."
It needs to be recalled that it was in the 90s that the "fugitive" Abdullah and his out-of-power Jammu and Delhi-based Kashmiri associates unleashed a no-holds-barred campaign to convince the Indian nation, the Parliament, the authorities in the South and North Blocks and the media that the root cause of the "Kashmiris' alienation" was the conspiracy hatched by New Delhi and its "power-hungry agents" to subvert the "Delhi Agreement" and bring J&K surreptitiously within the ambit of the Central laws and institutions. Ever since then, they have been using all the available forums and saying that there is but one way in which the separatists can be deflated, the Kashmir problem solved and the estranged Kashmiris won over and that is by redefining the Centre-State relations strictly in accordance with the lines indicated in the "Delhi Agreement."
In effect, they (and their report on the state autonomy and the June 26, 2000 Assembly resolution on it) have been vouching for a dispensation that not only snaps all the state's politico-constitutional ties with New Delhi and re-arm the Valley's ruling elite with extraordinary legislative, executive and judicial powers but also makes it mandatory for the Central Government to meet all the financial needs of the people of Kashmir.
It would be only desirable to discuss very briefly the circumstances under which Nehru and the Sheikh met during June-July, 1952, and what transpired between them. Such an exercise has become imperative to clear all the confusion, put things in perspective and establish that there exists no such accord as the "Delhi Agreement."
It needs to be underlined that the whole exercise started on April 10, 1952, when the Sheikh made some highly inflammatory speeches at Ranbirsingh Pura in Jammu, repeatedly questioned the accession of J&K to India and poured venom on the Indian State. Highly infuriated, Nehru asked the Sheikh to meet him and explain his position. The Sheikh and Nehru did meet. It was during this and the subsequent meetings that the Sheikh raised certain issues concerning the Centre-State relations.
In fact, the Sheikh told Nehru that he and his party were for an autonomous J&K. He also urged the Indian Prime Minister to allow the J&K Constituent Assembly, which was set up in 1951 after wholesale rigging, to frame a constitution that could empower the state to exercise absolute control over all matters minus those relating to three subjects - defence, foreign affairs and communications.
To be more precise, the Sheikh wanted Nehru to accept at least 10 of his demands. These were: (1) The "State Subjects", or persons domiciled in J&K, will be the citizens both of the State and India. (2) The "State Subjects" will have all the rights all over India but the "Non-State Subjects" will have no rights whatever in J&K. (3) The fundamental rights as contained in the Indian Constitution will not be conferred on the "State Subjects in their entirety." (4) The State will have the power to "define and regulate the rights and privileges of the permanent residents of J&K." (5) The State will be allowed to have its own flag. (6) The State will have the power to elect its own Head of State or Sadar-e-Riyasat, and the person so elected shall be answerable to it (read ruling party). (7) Article 356 shall not be applicable to J&K. In other words, the Centre will not intervene in the State in the case of internal disturbance. (8) Article 324 of the Indian Constitution will apply to the State only in case of elections to Parliament as well as the offices of the President and the Vice-President. (9) The Supreme Court of India will have limited jurisdiction over J&K. It will deal with only such disputes as were covered under Article 131 of the Union Constitution. (10) All the residuary powers will be the sole preserve of the State.
It is important to note that both Nehru and the Sheikh had arrived at an agreed solution only as regards the aims and ideals and bare outlines of the new constitution. Numerous matters, which will form the basis of the Centre-State relations, had been left undetermined as proper subjects for further discussion and explanation. Some of these issues such as the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court, jurisdiction of the Election Commission, emergency powers, fundamental rights and the question of finance were yet to be clinched.
It was on July 24, 1952, that Nehru informed the Lok Sabha as to what had transpired between him and the Sheikh. And what he told to the Lok Sabha has been taken by the NC to mean as a solemn agreement between New Delhi and Srinagar. This, notwithstanding the fact that there is no Constitution (Application to J&K) Order issued by the President of India to this effect. The Lok Sabha statement of the Indian Prime Minister, which was rather ambiguous on several issues, has no moral, legal or constitutional significance. Ministers do make all kinds of statements in and outside the legislature and these could be described as agreements.
However, to write all this is not to suggest that there exists no written agreement between the Centre and the Sheikh. There exists one and this is the 1975 Indira-Sheikh Abdullah Accord. This has been implemented in its entirety. The Sheikh became the Chief Minister in 1975 under this very accord, despite the fact that his party (Plebiscite Front) did not have a single legislator either in the Legislative Assembly or in the Legislative Council.
Will Kamal look all these facts in the face and revise his opinion? No, he will not because the NC's whole politics is based on falsehood. |
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