SP Sharma
As we celebrate 116th birth anniversary of veteran journalist and officer Late BP Sharma (Baldev Prasad Sharma) on 1 January, at the age of 25 he was the youngest among the six British and local newsmen who got the privilege of being invited to cover the proceedings of Jammu and Kashmir’s first Praja Sabha (elected assembly) nearly 91 years ago in 1934.
Mr. Sharma, who originally belonged to the Pouni village of the Reasi district, was at that time Srinagar correspondent of Times of India and The Tribune.
Only six prominent journalists were invited for the inaugural event of the Praja Sabha on 17 October 1934 and cover the proceedings of the house from 18 October 1934. These journalists were; BP Sharma (The Tribune & Times of India), Powell (London Times), Colonel Johnson (The Statesman & API), Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz (Haqiqat), Mr Abdul Majid Qureshi (Pasban) & Pandit Ganga Nath Sharma (Ranbir). Mr. Qureshi migrated to Pakistan in 1947.
According to his memoirs in the documents in the library of Late BP Sharma, “The venue of the Praja Sabha inauguration was the Durbar Hall in the Rajgarh Palace, Srinagar. All nominated and elected members, were dressed in black Achkan (a knee-length coat) and saffron turbans”.
Interestingly, the All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference led by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah emerged as the largest elected party in the first Praja Sabha in 1934 and his grandson Chief Minister Omar Abdullah with his National Conference (NC) as the single largest party again came to power 90 years later in 2024.
The princely Jammu and Kashmir had the privilege of having an elected Assembly (Praja Sabha) when people in most other places did not have any forum to raise their voice.
Maharaja Hari Singh established a Franchise Committee under the chairmanship of Sir Barjor Dalal on 31 May 1932 to make recommendations for establishing a Praja Sabha (literally, “Subjects’ Assembly”) in State. The recommendations came a year later with the proposal for a 75-member Assembly in which 33 would be elected members, 30 would be nominated members and 12 would be officials.
The first election for a legislative Assembly called Praja Sabha was held in 1934 in the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir in the British Indian Empire. The Praja Sabha was to have 75 members, of which 12 would be officials, 33 elected members and 30 nominated members. The election was held on 3 September 1934.
The All Jammu and Kashmir Muslim Conference under the leadership of Sheikh Abdullah was the largest elected party with 16 seats won. A ‘Liberal Group’ championed by the Dogra Sadar Sabha had the overall majority in the Assembly with 24 members.
“Even Sir Barjor Dalal, the first Indian ICS, who was the President of the Praja Sabha wore the same dress as other members. Arrival of Maharaja Hari Singh was announced by sounding trumpets and all members stood up to greet him,” recalled Mr. Sharma in his memoirs.
Mr. Sharma has recorded that “In course of his proclamation, which he himself read out, the Maharaja said; Out of the great love and affection we bear for our beloved subjects, we have called you to do your part in working for the wellbeing of the State”.
After the proclamation, Sir Barjor rose to present his “Nazrana” to the Maharaja. He was followed by all members one by one.
“The following daywhen the first session of the Praja Sabha began, all members took oath of office and allegiance to His Highness the Maharaja, his heirs and successors”.
Mr. Sharma recorded in his comments “The Praja Sabha was no doubt the first milestone on the path to J&K’s democracy”.
“In 1939, the Maharaja promulgated a new Constitution. The number of elected members in the house of 75 was raised from 33 to 40. The Praja Sabha was given the right to elect a Deputy President from its non-official members.
According to Mr. Sharma’s memoirs, the seating arrangement in 3 blocks of the Praja Sabha was well defined. Seats from 1 to 25 were among others earmarked for the Prime minister and his ministers. The chief secretary, accountant general and revenue commissioner were also given seats in the ‘A’ block.The administrator of Poonch would also sit with them.
Rules and Business Procedures of the Praja Sabha were defined in detail and these were printed in the Ranbir Government Press.
CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS DOGRI LANGUAGE:
Mr. Sharma did useful research into the language of Dogri. He unearthed several documents to prove that Dogri was an ancient language and also had its own grammar. He also wrote series of articles about political and historical developments in Jammu and Kashmir during the pre and post Independence era. He received awards from the First President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, and the First Prime Minister, Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, at New Delhi.
Popularly known as the walking encyclopaedia of Jammu and Kashmir, he had the history of all important events at his fingertips.
As a member of the Sahitya Academy for many years, he contributed much towards the development of the Dogri language. His research in the field of Dogri after his retirement from AIR helped to get Dogri included in the Eighth Schedule. The Dogras of Jammu had been struggling for long for due recognition of the language.
Mr. Sharma also contributed towards publication of the book “The Stamps of Jammu and Kashmir”, which was authored by Frits Staal, a professor at University of California, Berkeley, and published by the New York Collectors Club in 1983. The book carries a series of articles about the postal system under the Dogra rulers.
Frits Stall wrote in the preface that Mr. Sharma had inspired and helped him in bringing out the book regarding the postal system introduced more than 155 years ago by Maharaja Ranbir Singh.
CONTRIBUTION OF Mr. SHARMA IN JOURNALISM IN J&K:
Credit goes to Mr. Sharma for publishing J&K’s first English newspaper “Kashmir Times” from Srinagar on 26 November 1934. Many hurdles were faced by him in getting permission for publication of the newspaper.
Thereafter, Mr. Sharma’s contribution was recognised in setting up the Jammu’s radio station in a portion of the Ranbir High School during the crucial period in 1947 after partition of the country to counter Pakistan’s sinister propaganda against India over the Lahore radio station. Pakistani raiders had infiltrated into Jammu and Kashmir at that time and fake stories were broadcast about their advances in the Indian territory from the Lahore radio station.
Mr. Sharma, as the first Station Director, shifted the Radio Station to its present location near the Raj Bhavan.
Thereafter, Mr. Sharma served in the AIR at Kolkatta, Bhopal, Indore and many other places across India. During the 1965 Indo-Pakistan war, Mr. Sharma was again handpicked from Kerala by the then Information and Broadcasting Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi and transferred to Jammu to head the Radio Station that was upgraded for him. He again had the task to counter Pakistan’s false propaganda against India, particularly in connection with Jammu and Kashmir.
The 2001 edition of the Limca Book of Record acknowledged Mr. Sharma’s contribution in journalism and described him as the’Oldest Living Journalist of J&K’. They wrote; “B.P.Sharma, an active journalist for more than 71 years, wrote his first newsletter in Ranbir, Jammu’s first newspaper launched in 1924, at the age of 17 in January 1927. In 1934 he launched J&K’s first English weekly in Srinagar “The Kashmir Times” for which he wrote beyond the age of 88, besides having worked as a correspondent of many prestigious news agencies like Reuters and Associated Press of India”.
Mr. Sharma left this world on January 23, 2005 at the age of 96. However, he did not stop writing and himself typing his articles a year before that when he got confined to bed because of health problem.
Born in the Pouni village of the Reasi district, Mr. Sharma did his graduation from the Punjab University, Lahore, where he started writing newsletters during his student time.
His legacy in journalism is being carried forward by his youngest son SP Sharma who is currently working for The Statesman and was earlier with The Tribune in J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana. He earlier reported for Times of India.
BP Sharma’s grandson and SP Sharma’s son Arjun is news reporter of The Tribune for Jammu and Ladakh. He was earlier associated with the India Today group and Hindustan Times.
BP Sharma’s elder son, late DP Sharma, was special correspondent of Times of India.
(The writer is a veteran journalist who has compiled the article from the library records of his father BP Sharma)
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