How the events of 13 July 1931 and the role of Maharaja Hari Singh are to be remembered could become incendiary issues that will anger Kashmiris and Dogras, and polarise Jammu versus Kashmir, through this summer—like the grant of a plot of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board did in 2008.
Those agitations revived alienation and insurgency in Kashmir that year after Mr Vajpayee’s peaceable moves had calmed people, broken the back of militancy, and generated positivity for India in the hearts and minds of some among a new generation of young Kashmiris over the previous five to seven years. (See my book, The Generation of Rage in Kashmir, OUP, 2018.)
A summer of stone-pelting followed two years later, sparked by the killing of innocent locals in 2010. In its wake, a new phase of militancy was generated over the next five years. This was centred around Abu Qasim, a Pakistani, and Burhan Wani, a charismatic Kashmiri youth. They recreated Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizb-ul Mujahideen respectively in south Kashmir.
Another prolonged season of agitations got going after Burhan Wani was killed in 2016.
Provocative speech
The new controversy on the horizon was sparked by an exchange in the assembly of the union territory during the debate on the motion of thanks for the Lt. Governor’s address. In his speech, PDP youth leader Waheed Para urged the government to restore public holidays on `martyrs’ day’ and on Sheikh Abdullah’s birth anniversary.
Para held (incorrectly) that the purpose of the 1931 agitations in which Kashmiris had been killed had been to bring democracy—that the democracy which they were enjoying, and the assembly in which they were sitting, were because of that agitation.
He added that `July 13 is the most precious day in the history of Jammu and Kashmir, it is not a communal day.’ He further said that the assembly must pass a unanimous resolution… to restore those public holidays, `so that we don’t end up becoming a glorified municipality.’
The annual public holiday on 13 July was ended while the union territory was ruled directly by the Centre for five years after the constitutional changes of August 2019. The Muslim Conference, which was formed in 1932 and converted itself into the National Conference in 1939, had commemorated the date of those 1931 killings as `martyrs’ day.’
Jammu region’s responses
As if on cue, the BJP’s leader of the opposition, Sunil Sharma, rose to counter Para. Saying that those who Para had described as `martyrs’ had been agitators, Sharma spoke of the assembly as a gift of the maharaja, and went on to list various institutions and services such as Kashmir’s biggest hospital as gifts of the maharaja.
Having been presented in these contrasting ways by Para and Sharma, the issue has the incendiary potential to snowball into agitations in both Kashmir and Jammu during the summer. The agitations of 2008 and 2010 too had begun early that year, and gathered momentum through the spring before becoming intense in summer.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah should immediately have pointed out this danger, and called out their roles in 2008 and 2016 before calling upon both parties in the opposition not to stoke another controversy. For, in 2008 too, two PDP ministers played key roles to transfer land to the Shrine Board, and the RSS played a major role to polarise Hindus against Muslims over the reversal of the land transfer.
Instead of cooling tempers, Omar’s deputy, Surinder Choudhary, poured oil on the matter by asking reporters whether the unelected maharaja was not a dictator.
Escalating the matter, former Regent, Sadr-e-riyasat, and governor Dr Karan Singh called for an apology. `This is wrong terminology that he (Maharaja Hari Singh) was not elected and a dictator. He should tender an apology. If he does, it will not escalate things and may bring an end to the issue,” he told reporters—indicating that escalation was likely otherwise.
Worrying trend
This is a worrying trend. For, it suits the deep, dark forces, some of them international, which thrive on keeping conflict and violence going in Kashmir. It is easy to see why the Military-Industrial Complex in the West would be unhappy if Kashmir were to remain peaceful: both India and Pakistan are among the world’s leading buyers of arms.
It is easy to divide Jammu from Kashmir over the events of 1931, for Dogras, Kashmiri Pandits, and Kashmiri Muslims remember it very differently—to the extent that they do.
The police fired indiscriminately on 13 July `31 when the jostling of a crowd broke the gate of the Srinagar’s prison. That crowd had gathered to try and see what they could of one Abdul Qadeer’s trial for treason against the maharaja. Qadeer had made a fiery street corner speech to assert that it was intolerable for Muslims to be ruled by a Hindu.
There was nothing about democracy in either Qadeer’s speech, or in the minds of those who supported him. Rather, they saw him as an Islamist hero. Their underlying angst was basically about poverty in the face of oppressive conditions for farm labour and share croppers. Many of the landlords were Dogras.
One sincerely hopes that this week’s speeches will not lead to another summer of agitations in Jammu and Kashmir. The conflict industry may want it, but common people do not.
