The Modi-Shah duo, invariably derided for whatever the anti-saffron forces considered plain loudmouth rhetoric, has stunned the rest of the world with one solid, most desired move: They have restructured the provisions of the contentious Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which provided some weird temporary provisions to the |State of Jammu and Kashmir granting it a very special autonomy. The duo has kept their incredible promise. The nation is joyously obliged for the dream job.
Ordinary people must understand what all these Articles and special status mean, though temporary in nature. Article 238 that made possible some big princely states in the B group to be treated specially, including Hyderabad and J&K, was first scrapped from the Constitution in 1956 when Indian States were being reorganised.
It is said Dr Ambedkar, the principal drafter of the Constitution, had never agreed to Article 370. So, Nehru put Gopalaswami Ayyangar, a Minister without portfolio who had served as Diwan to Maharaja Hari Singh, to get the job done.
Thus, Article 370 was drafted and incorporated into the Constitution. Incidentally, Maharaja Hari Singh had wanted to keep J&K an independent state.
But only because Pakistani troops marched into his kingdom and captured a big stretch of land that he was rendered helpless and only then did he scream for help from the Indian authorities. Sheikh Abdullah the popular mass leader was in favour of India. Nehru also was in big hurry to annex the beautiful kingdom by hook or by crook. He did not worry once about the special status because during his lifetime, the region had not witnessed insurgency of any kind.
History of Kashmir is very amusing to know: Cradled in the lap of the majestic Himalayas, Kashmir is the arguably the most beautiful place in the Indian subcontinent with countless historical events on record. The 11th-century Islamic scholar Alberuni had then remarked that Indians were very poor in chronicling big historical events.
No wonder, Kashmir has the distinction of having produced many historians of repute like Kalhan, the author of Rajatarangini. Bilhana was yet another Sanskrit historian who was born in Kashmir. The court poet at Kalyanain in South India, he authored Vikramankadeva-Charita to celebrate the reign of Vikramaditya VI, the Chalukya king of Kalyana.
Kashmir literally translates into ‘the land desiccated from water. "Ka" is the water and Shimeera means ‘to desiccate'. As per legends, Kashmir was originally a lake drained by the great saint of ancient India Kashyap. It was annexed to the empire of Ashoka Maurya who is credited with the founding the city of Srinagar around 250 BC.
Around this time only, Buddhism spread across Kashmir and flourished under the Kushans. During the reign of Kanishka, the third Buddhist council took place in Kashmir which has been attested by the 7th-century Chinese traveller Huen Tsang.
But Hinduism never lost sway in the region. The 7th Century witnessed the establishment of a dynasty called the Karkota whose foundation stone was laid by Durlabha Vardhana. The most famous ruler of this dynasty was Lalitadity, a ‘Muktapid’ who built the world-famous sun temple ‘Martand’ in Kashmir. The ‘Karkotas’ were supplanted by the ‘Utpalas’ in 855 AD. The most prominent ruler of this dynasty was Avantiverman. He recovered Kashmir from utter political and economic chaos into which Kashmir had fallen during the rule of his irresponsible and self-serving predecessors.
Didda, a Gupta widowed queen, ruled Kashmir until 1003 AD when the Lohara dynasty took over. Didda was a very unscrupulous and wilful lady who led a very immoral life. Despite all her blemishes, she had ruled the valley with firm hands and instilled discipline into administration.
Usayan Dev was the last Hindu ruler of Kashmir. His chief queen Kota Rani was a very shrewd and brave lady and the de facto ruler. She died in 1339 bringing the Hindu rule to an end. Muslim ruler Sultan Shamas-ud-din invaded and captured the valley and his dynasty ruled the region for 222 years.
The most unforgettable ruler of this dynasty was Sultan Zain-ul-Abdin, under whose rule, Kashmir flourished culturally and politically. In 1586, the kingdom was annexed to the Mughal empire. Kashmir never got back its absolute freedom thereafter. In 1757, Kashmir came under the control of Ahmed Shah Durrani, the Afghan who invaded India every now and then.
In 1819, Kashmir was annexed by Ranjit Singh and became a part of the Sikh empire.
The two subsequent Anglo-Sikh wars resulted in the complete extinction of the Sikh sovereignty over Kashmir.
The State was recreated in 1846 from the territories previously under the Sikh empire after the First Anglo-Sikh War. The East India Company first annexed the Kashmir valley, Jammu, Ladakh and Gilgit-Baltistan from the Sikhs and then transferred it to Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu in return for an indemnity payment of 7,500,000 ‘Nanakshahee’ rupees under the Treaty of Amritsar. This entitled Ghulab Singh to have his complete control over the dominion.
He extended his territory by annexing Ladakh. Ghulab Singh died in 1857 and was replaced by Rambir Singh (1857-1885). Two other Maharajas, Partab Singh (1885-1925) and Hari Singh, ruled in succession. Maharaja Hari Singh ascended the throne in 1925 and ruled till 1950. After Independence in 1947, Hari Singh, refused to accede to either India or Pakistan. But when Pakistan invaded Kashmir in the following year, he helplessly sought help from the Indian Government.
He was forced to sign the Instrument of Accession to merge with the dominion of India. India sent troops to help him. Biju Patnaik had played a major role in carrying Indian troops to Kashmir against severe odds. A UN cease-fire in 1949 saw the end of fighting and the first Line-of-Control was marked.
In 1956, Kashmir's integration was conclusively formalised. A new Constitutional provision was made to make all parties happy.
Azad Kashmir, the area Pakistan had captured in 1948, remained with Pakistan. Pakistan joined hands with China, India’s enemy; and ever since then, the situation got more and more aggravated as the Chinese kept occupying more areas of the ‘Aksai Chin' region in Ladakh.
The situation came to head in 1963 when a Sino-Pak agreement defined the Chinese border with Pakistani Kashmir and ceded much of what India kept claiming to China. In July 1949, Hari Singh had abdicated in favour of his son Karan Singh after reposing a great deal of faith in Sheikh Abdullah, who had risen from the dust in the 1930s to form his political outfit, the National Conference.
The Sheikh being from a poor section of the society was popular among the distressed communities. Hari Singh, therefore, stood by the Sheikh and agreed to most of the latter’s conditions to be placed with the Dominion of India.
Thus came into existence Article 370 giving J&K a very unusual special status that included own Constitution, flag and six-year tenure for the legislature.
The Indian union would not interfere anywhere beyond defence, external affairs and finance. In 1953, Sheikh Abdullah was dismissed as prime minister allegedly because he had lost the
support of his cabinet. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad took his place.
In 1956, J&K defined itself as an integral part of India. And once declared as part of a sovereign state, J&K is bound to go by the mother Constitution. This has been constantly thwarted by two dynasties for personal gains: the Abdullas (post-Sheikh) and the Muftis. The two families allegedly have kept the Kashmiri society poor, all on purpose.
The two clans are stinking rich. Whenever there is talk of Kashmir turning fully integral part of India in letter and spirit, the two families scream, 'bloodbath in consequence!’
What was lacking until date was a truly gutsy political will. The Modi-Shah team has used the will and created history. India has so much the big reason to celebrate. The international community evidently supports India’s action.