Manu Khajuria
Maharaja Hari Singh was coronated in 1925 when the politics of India and the world was in a churn. 1st world war had ended and a new world order was taking shape. The state of J&K, that included Gilgit, Baltistan, Ladakh, Aksai Chin besides Jammu province and Kashmir was one of the most important geopolitical locations of the world. The borders of the state touched Afghanistan, Tibet (China), Pakistan (the new Nation) and was separated from USSR by the narrow strip of the Wakhan province.
The state of Jammu & Kashmir was founded by the blood, sweat and tears of thousands of Dogra men and women and the rulers who ruled this geographically and demographically diverse state as justly as was possible during those days of impossible communication and connectivity. J&K was carved out as one of the largest Princely states by Dogra rulers from the chaos prevailing at that point in time. They both conquered large tracts of land and consolidated small Kingdoms. Even the territories they acquired they set up systems for governance by locals.
The Dogra rulers established a modern judicial system and compiled the civil and criminal laws into the Ranbir Penal Code during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh and land revenue settlement under the indomitable Walter Lawrence hired by Maharaja Pratap Singh for the purpose. By this one act, Walter Lawrence mentions in his book, ‘The Valley of Kashmir’, that “cultivation expanded and improved, houses were rebuilt (because of better financial conditions) and repaired, fields fenced in, orchards planted, vegetable gardens well stocked and new mills constructed”. Walter Lawrence further adds that “women no longer were seen toiling in the fields, for their husbands are now at home to do the work and the long journeys to Gilgit are things of the past”. This also shows that “begar” which was a form of bonded Labour started by rulers preceding the Dogra rule was drastically cut by Dogra Kings and completely eliminated during Maharaja Pratap Singh’s reign. The blame on Dogra rule for the Begar system is misplaced and a false propaganda.
Before the Dogras came to rule the State, the Kashmir valley had been under the most brutal and ruthless rule of Afghans who had no respect for human lives not to speak of any respect for rules of law – that in any case was nonexistent. The Sikh rule that followed, though better than the Afghans, came at a time when the sun was setting on the Sikh Empire and it was embroiled in court intrigues and in keeping up with British machinations. They were distracted, not as strong and hence severely limited in what they could offer in terms of good governance and justice.
In both Kashmir and in Jammu we find schools and colleges built tastefully during the Dogra rule. Amar Singh College, Sri Pratap College, MP School in Kashmir and several other such institutions built by the Dogra administration of the time. Many missionary and other schools were also established in the Valley. In Jammu the erstwhile Prince of Wales College (renamed GGM Science College), Government Women College, Parade (Maharani College), Ranbir School and Ranbir Library were established by the Dogra Kings. Several schools dotting the landscape of Kashmir & Jammu built during the Dogra Kings stand as testimony to their commitment to education of their subjects.
Sheikh Abdullah and some of his political colleagues were direct beneficiaries of these educational institutions and the scholarships offered by the Dogra Maharaja. Sheikh Abdullah went on to study at Aligarh Muslim University where he and his peers who later became a part of his political journey were educated in the mould of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, eventually falling into the trap of the British. Their communalising of a region where there was peaceful co-existence before, was ably aided by the unlettered and mysterious rabble-rouser Abdul Qadir who did not even belong to Jammu and Kashmir. He faded into oblivion as swiftly as he had come after vitiating the political environment of Kashmir and sowing seeds of hatred for the Dogras.
The Dogra Maharajas also invested in health care. Along with the establishment of hospitals such as State Hospital Hazuri Bagh and around six dispensaries in different Districts, Sri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) Hospital was set up in Kashmir and Sri Maharaja Gulab Singh (SMGS) Hospital was built in Jammu to cater to the health requirements of the citizens of Jammu and Kashmir.
The unmatched Ranbir Canal running through Jammu is catering to the irrigation requirements of the farmers in Jammu even today. Earlier the canal was navigable and people would take joy rides in the canal, enjoying the cool waters of the Chenab river.
The Dogra rulers built Mohura power house in Kashmir with a receiving station in Pattan as well and a hydel power station near the present day Bhagwati Nagar which would run on the waters from the Ranbir canal. J&K was probably the 2nd princely state in the country after Mysore, that installed power generating facilities. These stations are now in defunct condition though they can be revived with enhanced generating capacities with the availability of new technology in modern times.
The foresight of Dogra rulers revolutionised connectivity of the state with the construction of the Jhelum Valley and Banihal Cart Roads thus improving the lives of the people.
It may be noted that Jammu and Kashmir was not a resource rich state but the Maharajas left no stone unturned to ensure that basic facilities were made available to their subjects as was possible in those days. They were invested in the prosperity of their people.
1931 was a turning point in the politics of J&K. A series of planned events unfolded; all part of a deep conspiracy hatched against Maharaja Hari Singh after his Nationalistic speech at the First Round Table Conference in London. It resulted in death and mayhem in Srinagar and heightened tensions further. Sheikh Abdullah, seeing an opportunity to build his political career, took full advantage of the fast-evolving situation stoking communal fires in an attempt to overthrow the Dogra dynast.
Meanwhile the Maharaja continued with his social and political reforms. He formed Praja Sabha, which had elected and nominated members and which became a precursor to the Legislative Assembly later on. From Sept 1934 the elected members of the Praja Sabha started making laws. This was a first for any princely state of India. Maharaja Hari Singh also framed a written constitution for the princely state that came into effect from Sept 1939. He made primary education compulsory in the state and prohibited child marriage. He opened all places of worship for the “low caste” subjects – again a first for the country.
In 1937 Sheikh Abdullah was introduced to Jawaharlal Nehru and both of them became friends and political allies. History stands witness to how this friendship wreaked havoc not only on the Maharaja but also the state. Nehru developed blind faith in Sheikh Abdullah and the Maharaja Hari Singh was completely sidelined. Ironically the duplicity of Sheikh dawned upon Nehru much later and he got Sheikh Abdullah arrested on 5th Aug 1953 but by then the Jammu and Kashmir state had gone through immense upheavals and lot of water had flowed down, both in Tawi and Jhelum rivers.
The state raised by the Dogras had ceased to exist; Pakistan had occupied mostly areas from mainland Jammu and some from Kashmir. Gilgit and Baltistan were snatched away in one of the most deceitful operations ever conducted. That Aksai-Chin was also lost to China in 1962 is a completely different story. Shaksgam was ceded to China by Pakistan.
Sheikh Abdullah was focused on his personal growth and all his machinations came at the cost of the people. So much so that even the might of the then Government of India was not able to hold on to a state that was built with the blood, sweat and tears of successive Dogra Maharajas and people of Jammu.
Beyond the rhetoric and false tears of some vested parties, the fact is that Jammu Kashmir, the glorious state that the Dogras built was hacked into pieces and lost during the period between 1947 to 1962 and not on 5th Aug 2019 when it was reorganized for better governance.
The Maharaja was the last ruler of the state and it is through his signature that the Princely state of Jammu and Kashmir ceded to the Indian Union. As a true Nationalist he spoke up for the people of India in the First Round Table Conference in London. He never spoke or went against the people of India or the Indian Government. He requested the Indian Government to send in troops to defend the people of the state in the summer of 1947. He knew his limitations. His army of around 10000 personnel was infinitely stretched and bogged down in Poonch, Uri and elsewhere along the newly created borders. At a time when communal fires were burning up and down the country, half of his troops, Muslims, had shifted their allegiance to Pakistan and killed their Hindu officers and soldiers with whom they had fought alongside in bunkers in many a battle. The situation was so grim that when the Maharaja ordered Brigadier Rajinder Singh to march to Uri he could barely find more than a few hundred soldiers. With his 100 Dogra soldiers and unparalleled courage under fire, Brigadier Rajinder Singh ensured that the bridge at Uri was blown up and the raiders were halted for a few days from proceeding to Srinagar, the capital city. His brilliant strategy and even more so his and his men’s valour is what saved Kashmir from falling into the enemy hands.
First the British, then the ambitious Sheikh Abdullah, followed by a blundering Nehruvian policy on Jammu Kashmir, all sealed the fate of Dogra Maharaja and his people. Maharaja Hari Singh, an obstacle for all these powers that be, was projected as the fall guy from as early as 1930s. In fact, after 1947 instead of things looking up they took a turn for the worse. The contribution of the Dogra dynasty in both the creation of the state and bringing peace, stability and progress to the state was not only not acknowledged but also systematically erased from collective memory. The prolonged propaganda at various levels ensured that not even a shred of the progressive nature of Dogra Rule be brought to the knowledge of the people of the country, for then the powers that be, were bound to be asked questions. One of the most pertinent questions that still remains unanswered is as to how easily they allowed the dismemberment of the state of J&K?
One of the biggest charges against the Maharaja was that he escaped from the Valley in the face of the Pakistani invasion of 1947. Where had he “escaped” to? Did he fly to the UK, US or any other foreign land or even to the newly independent Indian nation? He was well within his state boundaries and in his winter capital Jammu where things were not rosy either. Where was Sheikh Abdullah on the day when Pakistani forces invaded the valley plundering and looting their way in? The person who had propagated and amplified the canard against the Maharaja and the Dogras, infecting the peaceful atmosphere of a harmonious Jammu and Kashmir with a communal virus, had along with his family members left his people and the state, to the safety of Delhi only to return to Kashmir Valley after the Indian forces landed in Srinagar and the city was secured.
Regarding Maharaja Hari Singh’s move from Srinagar to Jammu, VP Menon mentions in his book (Integration of Indian States) “that the first thing to be done was to get the Maharaja and his family out of Srinagar. The reason for this was obvious. The raiders were close to Baramulla. The Maharaja was quite helpless and if the Government of India decided not to go to his rescue, there was no doubt about the fate that would befall him and his family in Srinagar. There was also a certainty that the raiders would loot all the valuable possessions in the palace. In these circumstances I advised him to leave immediately for Jammu and take with him his family and his valuable possessions.” He further mentions that he left for his guest house in the early hours of the morning after assuring himself that the Maharaja would leave for Jammu that night. Not much later VP Menon, Mehar Chand Mahajan, the PM of the state too had to leave hastily for the airport as they got information that Pakistani invaders had entered Srinagar.
In contrast to the facts the propaganda mill churned out falsehoods after falsehoods. Sheikh Abdullah was the conductor of this orchestra, knowing very well that only lies would dethrone a just and a much-loved Maharaja.
The injustices against Maharaja Hari Singh can be better understood if we compare him with the Nizam of Hyderabad. On one hand the Dogra Maharaja Hari Singh had signed the Instrument of Accession, ceding to the Union of India and on the other hand there was the Nizam of Hyderabad who had called for a war against India. The Nizam with a force of around 30,000 personnel, 200,000 razakars, 40000 askars waged a war against the Indian forces. He hobnobbed with Pakistan and imported weapons clandestinely from Europe and the newly carved out Pakistan. He even loaned huge sums to Pakistan for bolstering their war effort against India in Kashmir. He went to the UN against India and finally when he surrendered to the Indian forces he was allowed to continue as Nizam and made the Rajpramukh/Governor of Hyderabad in January 1950.
It is only reasonable to ask why the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir, a Nationalist to the core and one who willingly cooperated with India after 1947 was unceremoniously and cruelly exiled from his own state while the Nizam with all his follies and evil intentions against the Indian Nation was made the Rajpramukh?
It is this inherently contradictory and confounding attitude of the Government of India towards the Dogra Maharaja that has left a deep scar in the psyche of the people of Jammu along with an angst and heartache that have lasted for 75 years.
The final nail in the coffin was the forced exile of Maharaja Hari Singh. He was called to Delhi on 20th June 1949 and told he could never go back to his homeland. This was at the behest of Sheikh and Nehru. He breathed his last in Bombay on 26th April 1961 and only his ashes returned to his beloved Jammu and Kashmir. He was punished for being a pucca Dogra Nationalist from Jammu and Kashmir. The forces of parochialism represented by the Sheikh won the day, unfortunately for India. The events also set a dangerous precedent where separatism was negotiated with and rewarded whereas nationalism was taken for granted and punished.
The value of history is in knowing not to repeat the same mistakes. The consequences of all the Himalayan blunders are for all to see. It is important to remember that whoever betrays us once, will betray us a thousand times, there is no need to drink the whole sea to realise that it is salty. We must be wise with our time and our choices.
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