which can act decisively and
courageously when it comes to
protecting the national interests. It
brushed aside all the talk about
the violation of democratic norms
and parliamentary procedures by
the Govt. in the context of propo-
sing the Bill and resolutions in
parliament and its failure to take
Kashmir people and other parties
into confidence as a matter of no
importance. It sought to even call
critical voices as anti-national, pro-
Pakistani and a dangerous attempt
to weaken the national unity and
national leadership much to the
delight
of
enemies
and
adversaries. Here is a vulgarized
concept of nationalism peddled by
the exploiting ruling classes and
their regimes in the world. The BJP
regime is using it aggressively
against its political adversaries and
people.
Throwing All Commitments to
Winds
In the view of present Indian
Govt. and BJP leaders, the
promises made by the Indian Govt.
to the people of Kashmir; its
responsibility to honor its own
commitment to Kashmir to finally
decide their political future in
accordance with their national
aspirations and wishes are
worthless. They can be set aside
and ignored since the interests of
Indian ruling classes are of
paramount importance. This kind
of political position, logic and
assertion on the part of a
responsible Govt. only stem on the
basis of muscle power and lack of
rationality. They seriously erode
the trustworthiness of a Country’s
rulers, further deepen their
alienation from Kashmir people
and evade the resolution of
problem.
Lame Defense of Congress
Most of the parties in
parliament were critical of the way
Aug,Sep - 2019
the BJP Govt. brought the Jammu
and Kashmir Reorganization Bill
and Resolutions on Kashmir and
the way it sought to manufacture
their adoption by brute majority in
parliament. They were critical of
division of Jammu and Kashmir and
its degradation into Union
Territories. The Congress leader-
ship is one among these critiques.
At the same time, the political
position; defense of Congress role
in Kashmir are particularly
noteworthy.
The senior Congress leader
from Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad
has explained with all emotion,
anger and outburst the position
and role of Congress leadership
in the decades’ long years of rule.
His explanations boils down to this:
In the given most complicated
historical conditions then prevailed
in Kashmir, wise, practical and able
handling of Kashmir question by
Jawaharlal Nehru and Congress
led by him alone had resulted in
the signing of Instrument of
Accession by the Indian Govt. and
Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh. The
said Agreement integrated Jammu
and Kashmir in India confining
Indian Govt’s powers to defence,
foreign affairs, currency and
communications. In the given
historical conditions, it alone was
possible and can be said as a
great achievement for India. The
inclusion of Article 370 and 35-A in
the Indian Constitution and other
promises made by the Indian Govt.
in the subsequent period were in
line with the Agreement. However,
the Congress regimes in the
subsequent period initiated
several moves towards greater
integration of Kashmir into India.
Credit for all this goes to Congress,
Sheikh Abdulla and Kashmir
people as they extended their
support and concurrence to these
moves.
Untold Story
Here the Congress leader
stateds only some facts of history
conveniently
forgetting
or
concealing many crucial facts that
expose how the Congress regimes
in the Centre acted against the
letter and spirit of Instrument of
Accession; their own commitments
and promises to Kashmir people;
how they resorted to many foul
methods to water down Kashmir’s
special status and how they
combined the methods of
manipulation, pressure and
suppression to compel the Kashmir
people to come to terms with the
Indian ruling classes to the best of
their satisfaction.
The facts concerning this
period include: The historical
conditions at the time of signing the
Instrument of Accession (Oct 26,
1947) were peculiar in the sense,
to start with, Maharaja Hari Singh
of Kashmir was not for integrating
Kashmir in either India or Pakistan.
But then he was in the thick of
intensifying crisis. On one side, he
was encircled by a powerful and
ever growing anti-feudal peasant
movement led by Sheikh Abdulla
for radical land reforms and
democratic changes. Had it
developed further at the time,
Jammu and Kashmir had every
possibility to free itself from the
yoke of feudal rule and emerge into
an independent and democratic
Kashmir. On the other side, the
Pakistan rulers were for integrating
Jammu and Kashmir in Pakistan.
Resultantly, Pakistan had sent its
armed bands into Kashmir and
went on occupying some parts of
it. There emerged a situation where
Maharaja was not in a position to
withstand and needed help. The
Indian Government had fully
utilized this situation to bring around
the Maharaja Hari Singh to sign an
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