Author: Balbir K. Punj
Publication: Organiser
Date: July 3, 2005
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=85&page=6
In the wee hours of June 23, 1953,
Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee, the founder President of Bharatiya Jan Sangh,
passed away in the State Nursing Home of Srinagar (J&K) after being
imprisoned for forty days by Sheikh Abdullah government. Dr. Mookerjee
(July 6, 1901-June 23, 1953) was thus the first civilian martyr who fell
defending the integrity and sovereignty of India. He was arrested by J&K
police, halfway down the Madhopur Bridge on River Ravi at Kathua, as he
tried to enter the state publicly without a permit on May 10, 1953. He
violated the permit rule openly -ready to face its possible consequences
- to emphasise that J&K is an integral part of India covered under
the Constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right of unrestricted movement
to its any part. His objective was 'Hum Vidhan lenge, ya balidan denge'
(I shall secure you the Constitution of India, or else give martyrdom)
as he promised in an earlier visit of the state on August 1952.
He was a crusader against Article
370 that is an instrument of alienation for J&K from rest of India.
Article 370 was promulgated as a temporary provision in the Indian Constitution
till the Constituent Assembly of J&K ratified the Instrument of Accession
signed by Maharaja Hari Singh on October 26, 1947. But the Kashmiri establishment
that replaced the Dogra dynasty found it a profitable provision of extracting
maximum privileges with minimal accountability. Sheikh Abdullah, 'Prime
Minister' (only after 1965 it came to be standardized as 'Chief Minister')
of J&K wanted ruled the state as a sovereign republic. Ironically he
did so with resources from Indian exchequer and political blessings of
Jawaharlal Nehru. According to Article 370, apart from Defence, Foreign
Affairs and Communications, Indian Parliament could frame laws for J&K
with regards to items in Union and Concurrent lists only with concurrence
from J&K Assembly. Article 370 gave J&K as privileged elitism vis-à-vis
other states. It gave J&K an independent Constitution, and in Syama
Prasad's time it was also an independent 'Prime Minister', independent
flag of J&K (remodeled on National Conference flag), independent Supreme
Court, a separate radio 'Radio Kashmir' (instead of A.I.R. Srinagar).
Since Syama Prasad's untimely demise
in 1953, various other provisions of Indian Constitution has been extended
to J&K. Briefly, they include Customs and Central Exercise, Civil Aviation,
Posts and Telegraph (1954); All India Services like IAS and IPS and functions
of CAG (1958) Census (1959), Central Labour Laws (1964), Jurisdiction of
Indian Supreme Court (1968) etc. The dual citizenship of J&K and India
that existed then exists even now. But in those days when Syama Prasad
shone as a Parliamentarian, an Indian also needed a special permit to set
foot in the state of J&K.
Though Article 370 ensured a privileged,
and pampered, status for J&K, its benefit was not forwarded to all
its inhabitants. It ensured hegemony of Kashmiri Muslims who are dominant
majority amongst Kashmiris but in statistical minority in the state if
population of Dogras of Jammu and Ladhaki Buddhists were included. Dogras
and Laddhakis have little stake in Article 370 and would be happy to see
it go any time. The Dogras, who ruled J&K for one hundred years till
1947, are fiercely patriotic people who send many gritty soldiers to Indian
Army. They had organized themselves in mass body named Praja Parishad (founded
by Balraj Madhok in 1949), which demanded complete unification of J&K
with India. Led by a 70-year old energetic and sincere leader Pandit Prem
Nath Dogra they agitated within democratic norms. Their stirring call -"Ek
Desh Main Do Vidhan/Ek Desh Main Do Nishan/ Ek Desh Main Do Pradhan/Nahin
Chalenge, Nahin Chalenge (Two Constitutions, Two flags, and two Head of
States in one country will not be tolerated). It had inspired Syama Prasad
so deeply when he visited J&K in 1952 that it remained with him till
the last moment of his life.
A meeting with Pt. Prem Nath Dogra
at New Delhi's Western Court in May 1952 was a momentous event in life
of Syama Prasad. With in grounding in Bengal politics, before moving on
to national politics, the leonine son of Bengal made J&K's cause his
personal one. As Jan Sangh adopted a resolution on June 14, 1952 emphasizing
that J&K are integral part of India, it observed an All India Kashmir
Day on June 29, 1952. Syama Prasad asked Nehru point blank on floor of
Parliament-"are Kashmiris Indians first and Kashmiris next or they are
Kashmiris first and Indians next or they are Kashmiris first, second and
third and not Indian at all? That is a very important point which we have
to settle".
But Nehru conceded Sheikh Abdullah
more ground in Delhi Agreement signed on July 24, 1952. Here was a Prime
Minister who wanted to crush the nationalistic aspirations of Jammuites
represented by Praja Parishad who wanted to live as Indians first and Indians
last, and pamper a separatist who was about to say-"It is not necessary
for our state to be an appendage of either India or Pakistan' (Sheikh Abdullah's
July 6, 1963 "Martyr Day' speech at Srinagar).
Syama Prasad's first visit to J&K,
primarily to attend the Praja Parishad's Workers Convention in August 1952,
was a roaring success. He also flew down to Srinagar to confer with Sheikh
Abdullah and his deputy (later PM of J&K) Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed. He
warned Sheikh Abdullah that his policies smack of Jinnah's separatism who
would not accept even a weak centre dominated by Hindus.
But during his well-planned second
visit, he was arrested for violating permit restriction. He was incarcerated
in a cottage turned into sub-jail near Nishat Bag outside Srinagar. As
patient of high blood pressure, the high altitude, callous attitude of
authorities, wrong administering of medicine caused his health to fail
and sink. He suffered a cardiac arrest on June 21, before being removed
to state nursing home ten miles away in a strenuous journey. He passed
away on June 23, 1953; later that day Habeas Corpus application filed in
J&K by Justice U.M. Trivedi, Jan Sangh MP set him free. But he had
found a greater liberty. Only a complete integration of J & K with
rest of India will be a befitting tribute to this martyr.
(The writer can be contacted at
bpunj@email.com)
