Lt. Gen Bhopinder Singh (Retd)
The diminishment of ‘Jammu’ or the erstwhile Duggar lands started on 26th October 1947, the day Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession. What was intended as only accession to India, immediately morphed additionally into the submission of ‘Jammu’ in the fate of the state and in the national consciousness, hereinafter. The epicenter of power shifted to the Valley, and the ‘new rulers’ solidified their electoral base with the accompanying politics, be it Sheikh Abdullah in J&K or Jawaharlal Nehru in Delhi. An important political necessity of managing the post-Dogra reign was to amplify the ‘Valley’, and collaterally down play ‘Jammu’ – this made electoral, political and even circumstantial sense, as the overactive neighbour was interfering with its own real politik to justify its flawed two-nation theory. The nominal sop of anointing the Dogra dynast as the Sadr-i-Riyasaat was pure politics, and that honour too was effectively downgraded overtime. Jammu was left effectively voiceless owing to the continuing tensions with Pakistan, where postulating the ‘Valley’ became the competitive trump card on both sides of the Line of Control (LoC). This situationally empowered the dominant state politicians (predominantly from the Valley) to leverage their own importance and bargaining power – meanwhile, Jammu became an increasingly forgotten borough and non priority for everyone, barring the multicultural and multireligious Dogras, who watched silently from the sidelines.
Contrary to the history of most other formerly ‘Independent States’, the Dogra rule of J&K was not oppressive, discriminatory or bigoted – it was amongst the most progressive, prosperous and inclusive ones, comparatively. This is not a romanticized or hagiographic perception, but historically documented reality.Even the movement against the Dogra rule in the form of Kashmir Muslim Conference was not born of any revolt against bloody-tyranny, but supposedly as a means of empowering the people with democratic rights, that are an antithesis to feudal structures. It was a pro-democracy movement that ostensibly sought support from all communities, and later led to the more inclusive nomenclature, National Conference. The magnanimity and inclusivity of the Maharaja Hari Singh can be gauged from the fact that he did not violently stamp out the simmering unrest, instead, he appointed a Grievance Commission under an unbiased Englishman, BJ Glancy, and later constituted a Reforms Conference. While the pace and structure of reforms may not have been in line with Sheikh Abdullah’s preferences, they did happen, and he was allowed to protest, albeit, getting jailed when the agitation demanded the absolute dismantling of monarchy or assuming portents of ‘Quit Kashmir’. However, from the comparative assessment of typical feudal reactions, the Dogra Rule was not given to brutality or illiberality, as is completely and falsely, posited now. Incredously, Maharaja Hari Singh is wrongly perceived as a oppressor in this ‘post-truth’ established by some religious and politically motivated extremists in parts of the UT, and as a vain and dilly-dallying monarch in the rest of the country – the price paid by a ruler to address the composite concerns of all, irrespective of their religion, region or race. He died an ignored, lonely and forgotten death, while ‘Jammu’ remains the only region to acknowledge the real story and feel the pain of not just losing its sense of importance and history, but also losing out from the natural progress and development that ought to have accrued, over time.
What perpetuated Jammu’s neglect post-independence was its inability to articulate its own composite urgency and neglect, powerfully enough in ‘Delhi’. The task to address Jammu’s woes was left to the principal national parties, who had far greater ‘agendas’ and ‘larger interests’ and all political reassurances, promises and postures towards Jammu notwithstanding, the reality of today bears testimony to the indifference ofall national and regional dispensations, directly or indirectly, via single party rule, coalitions or even Governors rule .
The cruel irony is magnified by the fact that Jammu which has historically and geographically withstood all invasions, purges and raids as the ‘first, foremost and formidable’ line of defence throughout centuries – continues to do so, today also. Not only is the glorious Dogra history on the backburner, but the fact that the region/race contributes to the highest number of martyrs and gallantry award winners for the Indian Armed Forces, is not even acknowledged or celebrated in Jammu, itself. In an era of nationalistic surge, the author had earlier beseeched the illustrious Dogra citizens to christen Jammu as ‘The Most Valiant City of India’ – imagine the stirring quality, audacity-of-claim and the sheer traction of that undeniable claim/branding afforded on Jammu/Dogras, across India? It would have focused the spotlight on a region that desperately needs affirmation in the consciousness of the nation – regrettably and inexplicably, there wasn’t much enthusiasm towards the idea. Today that popular national perception of valour is surrendered to some other Northern Indian States, which too have a rich saga of gallantry, but nothing compared to the unbelievable, unrecognized and absolutely unspoken gallantry of the Dogras. Nothing illustrates the pitiable ignorance of Dogra glory (outside the Duggar lands) more than the lamentable lack of awareness about the legendary General Zorawar Singh?
Another disservice that the Dogras afforded onto themselves was on the confused identity -the Dogra is a heterogenous regional identity of the people who reside south of the Pir Panjals, covering the Jammu plains and the adjoining tracts of Punjab and the hills of Himachal Pradesh. The evolutionary regional distortion of Durgara was ascribed to a kingdom in the excavations of eleventh century copper-plate inscriptions in Chamba. Those who have routinely embellished the regional Dogra identity can be a Hindu, Muslim or Sikh by personal faith, and cutting across the narrow confines of castes and sub-castes. But this ‘inclusive identity’ of Jammu and Dogras too was torn apart by the various national and regional partieswhich laser-guided their electoral appeals with ‘divides’ of identity that weakened and fragmented the collective power of the Dogra identity. As if, the ‘us versus them’ between ‘Jammu’ and ‘Srinagar’ was not regrettable enough, but to introduce the ‘us versus them’ within the Dogra identity itself has been extremely costly for Jammu.
The neglect of Jammu is so much more than the often-postulated demands for declaration of holiday on Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary, restoration of Mubarak Mandi, Dogra cultural fests etc.(all of which is good to have, but not critical in the scheme of things) -the desperate demand is for the planned development, job opportunities, civic amenities, investments and then about the other softer socio-psychological imperatives. Lessons should be learnt from the successful accomplishment of regional aspirations in the relatively newly formed states of Telangana, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand. There were two essential differences vis-à-vis ‘Jammu’, firstly these regional strife’s did not allow themselves to get divided by ethnic-religious-castiest identities, and secondly all of them were championed by local regional formations that focused their demands towards substantiality and disallowed the distraction of agendas, which is the wont of national or sub-regional parties. From Telangana Rasthriya Samithi, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha to Uttarakhand Kranti Dal – the advent of national parties into their statepolitics, came subsequently. Unfortunately, ‘Jammu’ has vested all its hopes onto national or existing regional parties – none of which has demonstrated any meaningful sincerity towards the specific Dogras/’Jammu’ that is beyond the realm of religion, caste and ‘us versus them’ narrative. Introspection is due on the much-celebrated abrogation of Article 370 and if indeed it did have a transformational impact on the fate of Dogras/’Jammu’ – similarly further division or bifurcation is yet another sophistry towards partisan politics and falling for the perennial trap of ‘divides’, is tantamount to furthering the ineffectual ways. Jammu must rise beyond the vested interests of national parties and their ‘larger agendas’ and proudly assert its multi-cultural, multi-religious identity and only then does the collective ‘voice’ reach the extreme corners of India. ‘Jammu’ and its Dogras are finest exposition of the noble, mellifluous and constitutional brilliance of the ‘Idea of India’ – unless it expresses itself so in the form of a collective identity, it will continue to succumb to the lure of divisive passions, ‘larger interests’ and bigotry, and that would demean the real identity, dignity and unrecognized nobility of the illustrious Dogra.
(The author is former Lt Governor of Andaman & Nicobar Islands & Puducherry)
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