Right from June 1946, Sardar Patel, the Home Member of undivided India, had been receiving telegrams from pro-Maharaja organizations like Jammu and Kashmir Rajya Hindu Sabha and All State Kashmiri Pandit Conference resisting the efforts of Sheikh Abdullah and Pandit Nehru to woo the majority population to agitate against the Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir. He was aspiring to have his Princely State with Muslim majority remain independent after the British were to leave India. Patel would write to some of them saying, “I understand that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is himself coming there as a messenger of peace to bring about honourable settlement of this vexed question. After all, he is also a Hindu and that a Kashmiri Hindu, and he is one of our foremost patriots and one of the greatest leaders of modern India. He is, as all human beings are, liable to err. But all his actions are governed by considerations of highest patriotism.” While calling Nehru “a democrat” and “his sympathies are always with the underdog” Patel did mention: “Sheikh Abdullah is supposed to be a very popular and his association with Pandit Nehru has been regarded as a sufficient guarantee of his being against any separatist movement.”
The Maharaja and his Prime Minister Ram Chandra Kak resisted Pandit Nehru or even Mahatma Gandhi visiting his State for a year or so. Jammu-based journalist and social activist Balraj Puri writes in his book ‘Kashmir: Insurgency and After’: “The Maharaja was in no mood to join the Indian dominion even when partition became inevitable. He was supported by loyal Hindu leaders in Jammu who vociferously argued that a Hindu State, as Jammu and Kashmir claimed to be, should not merge its identity with a secular India. The working committee of the All Jammu and Kashmir Rajya Hindu Sabha (the earliest incarnation of the present Bharatiya Janata Party in the state) adopted a resolution in May 1947, reiterating its faith in the Maharaja and extended its ‘support to whatever he was doing or might do on the issue of accession.’ In a press release issued in May 1947, the acting President of All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference, Chowdhary Hamidullah Khan, also urged ‘His Highness’ to declare Kashmir independent immediately and establish a separate constituent assembly to frame the constitution of the State.’
Even on 3 July 1947, the Sardar wrote to the Maharaja and his PM Kak:“…as a sincere friend and well-wisher of the State, I wish to assure you that the interest of Kashmir lies in joining the Indian Union and its Constituent Assembly without any delay.” And on 18 July 1947, Patel wrote a letter to RC Kak “about the release of Sheikh Abdullah and other workers of the National Conference.” Meanwhile, the Sardar had arranged to get pro-Independence or pro-Pak PM Kak replaced by Justice Mehrchand Mahajan of Punjab High Court who later became the Chief Justice of India. The Maharaja was in a dilemma despite a firm assurance from Patel through the Viceroy Mountbatten during his visit to Kashmir and meeting with the Maharaja that ‘if he acceded to Pakistan, India would not take its amiss.’ Hari Singh was keen to have his independent “Switzerland”. The Viceroy , in fact, was pushing him towards Pakistan. Since the Maharaja was not likely to come to any conclusion about the accession, the Mahatma Gandhi appeared on the scene with the consent of the Viceroy which changed the scenario.
Though Gandhiji was not on a political mission, his visit to Jammu and Kashmir between 1 and 4 August 1947 made it difficult for Maharaja Hari Singh to resist going with India. Even if on 22 October 1947 the raiders from Pakistan would not have attacked his kingdom, the subjects of the Maharaja led by Sheikh Abdullah were to force him to accede to India. Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession on 26 October 1947. Gandhi’s moral medicine gave power to the masses. He said: “The will of the Kashmiris should decide the fate of Jammu and Kashmir.” Giving the summary of the Mahatma’s visit to Srinagar, Jammu and Rawalpindi, the ‘Harijan’ reported in the 24 August 1947 issue: ‘He (Gandhiji) hoped that the question would be decided between the two Dominions, the Maharaja Saheb and the Kashmiris. If the four could come to a joint decision, much trouble could be avoided. After all Kashmir was a big State; it had the greatest strategic value, perhaps in all India. So much for Kashmir.” Even today, Mahatma Gandhi’s message remains relevant.
Next Column: Thomas Macaulay: A Hero or A Villain
Photoline:
- Trinity of Indian Freedom Movement: Pandit Nehru, Mahatma Gandhi and Sardar Patel
- Key-players in Kashmir affairs: Sheikh Abdullah, Viceroy Mountbatten, Maharaja Hari Singh and Pandit Nehru
