Political scenario in Kashmir in 1947

The different political groupings in Kashmir in 1947-1949 included:

Loyalists

This group include the feudal lords, landowners, Government officials, Big traders and their descendants who considered loyalty to the Maharajah and the British Empire the source of prosperity and maintenance of peace and order in the State. The Maharaja was the descendant of a soldier Gulabu who started his career as a petty trooper employed on a monthly salary of Rs3/ per month and then by dint of his capability he rose to become Gulab Singh the Prime Minister of Rani Jandian of Punjab. For services rendered to the British he was permitted to purchase the whole of Jammu & Kashmir from the British for a sum of 75 lac Nanakshahi rupees by virtue of the treaty of Amritsar signed in 1846 and thus become Maharajah Gulab Singh.In 1947 his descendant Hari Singh was the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir State

Nationalist Socialists

This powerful group (To be later called the National conference) was led by Sheikh Abdullah. This group had as its aim obtaining freedom for the people of Jammu and Kashmir. Freedom for this group meant abolition of feudal rule and feudal lords and installation of a representative government even if the Maharajah remained its constitutional head. This group considered the problem of accession to India or Pakistan of secondary importance and considered it immaterial as long as the country to which they acceded promised not to support the Maharajah and the feudal rulers. Thus in his speech Sheikh Abdullah says:

“We have been fighting for the last eighteen years

We have fought a war against our enslavement.

After we have attained freedom we will decide

Whether to join Congress or the Muslim League (India or Pakistan)

We are still slaves and if at present we accede to either of the two

Our slavery will continue for ever”

This group did not –as is mistakenly believed- did not articulate the concept of an Independent State of Jammu and Kashmir although the germ of the idea can be noticed in the reference to both countries as monsters:

“ The people came to me saying, “ Answer our Question”

Kashmir has no option but to join one of the two nations

Tell us which of these two monsters will be better for us?”

This group was strongly against any partition of the State of Jammu and Kashmir

“ Let our country go to whomsoever it goes in one piece
It would be horrid if it is cut up into pieces”

According to Sheikh Abdullah he asked for assurance from both India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 and Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 for supporting his struggle against feudal rule. The Indians agreed to his proposal but the Pakistanis refused:

“ I told them both in plain words

We desperately want to become free

Both of you should help us to gain freedom

Once people are free they would be sovereign

To decide with which of the two they should accede

This I tell you without circumlocution

The Indians agreed to my proposal

The Pakistanis were angered by it

They said “What you are saying is impracticable

You are unnecessarily wasting time.”

Shiekh Abdullahs claim appears to be supported by the fact that after accession with India the Maharajah ran away from Kashmir and India did not oppose the confiscation of feudal lands and abolition of the feudal system. Perhaps there was a secret deal between India and Sheikh Abdullah in this regard. Pakistan on the other hand at that period would have been loath to allow destruction of the feudal lords as that that time the feudal system was a cornerstone of Pakistani political system.
The ideas of Nationalist Socialists had a big following among the villagers who were denied right to own land or produce under the feudal system as well as lower classes of laborers and artisans in the city who found no avenue for escaping to a higher status under the feudal system which favored the middle and upper classes

Religious groups

This was a powerful lobby with a large following. For them the question of feudalism was of secondary importance and accession according to religious affiliation was the only option. These included the Muslims and Hindus from the educated middle and upper classes who were influenced by Indian politics, as well as religious leaders who were afraid of getting sidelined and made irrelevant by abolition of the feudal system from which they derived support and were afraid of the spread of socialist ideas, which they felt, reduced the influence of religion in society. Muslim Conference among Muslims and RSS supported groups like Hindu Rajiya Sabha and Yuvak Sabha among Hindus were representatives of this class. After the formation of the National Conference there were numerous violent altercations between the followers of the National Conference and the religious groups. These fights were often engineered and encouraged by the Maharajah as a part of his policy of Divide and Rule and sapped the vitality of the people. In the valley these clashes were nicknamed Sher(Lion) Bakra(Goat) fights. Occasional clashes between followers of these groups occur even today.

Fringe groups

Kashmir was never totally uninfluenced by main land politics and representatives of almost the entire spectrum of Indian Political and Religious parties could be found here. These included the Communists and fringe groups like the Khaksaars, the Ahlay Hadees (nicknamed Kot) and followers of Maulana Maudoodi (nicknamed Jamaatis) who had a very limited following.

Selected references

• Atish e Chinar (Authoritative biography of Sheikh Abdullah by M.Y.Taing)
• Tehreek e Hurriyat e Kashmir by Rashid Taseer 3 vols 1973
• Ahad o Payment e Hazratbal by Mehjoor (See Talk Sheikh Abdullah)