Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah: The Game Changer-I
Jammu, April 21: Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah (5 December 1905 – 8 September 1982) is a person without whom the history of modern J&K would be incomplete. In fact he is the real game changer who played a crucial role in dethroning Maharaja Hari Singh and then forcing his exile from the state to play bigger role in political turf of the state and Jammu and Kashmir’s transition from monarchy to democracy.
However it is also a fact that he and the then Prime Minister of Indian Jawahar Lal Nehru played a major role in getting the state a special constitutional position through article 370 which many believe is the source of all the ills that this state is facing now a days.
Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah better known as “Sher-e-Kashmir” (Lion of Kashmir) in Jammu and Kashmir was a statesman who played a central role in the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. Abdullah was the founding leader of the National Conference and thrice served as the head of government in Kashmir. He agitated against the rule of the Maharaja Hari Singh and urged self-rule for Kashmir. He was the Prime Minister of the state of Jammu and Kashmir after its normal accession to India in 1947 and was later jailed and exiled. He was dismissed from the position of Prime Ministership on 8 August 1953 and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad was appointed as the new Prime Minister. The expressions ‘Sadar-i-Riyasat’ and ‘Prime Minister’ were replaced with the terms ‘Governor’ and ‘Chief Minister’ in 1965. Sheikh Abdullah again became the Chief Minister of the state following the 1974 Indira-Sheikh accord and remained in the top slot till his death on 8 September 1982.
Abdullah was born to Sheikh Mohammed Ibrahim a descendent of a Kashmiri Pandit named Raghav Ram Koul who converted to Islam in 1722. Sheikh’s mother was keen to give her son a good education and sent him first to a Maktab to learn religious education and later to a primary school. Sheikh had to walk ten miles to reach school and passed his Matriculation exam from Punjab University in 1922, later he joined Shri Pratap College Srinagar and Prince of Wales College Jammu, Islamia College Lahore and Aligarh Muslim University in 1930 and obtained M.Sc in Chemistry.
It is said that Govt Silk Factory agitation inspired him to join politics and seek justice for his people and was subsequently arrested in 1931 during a public agitation.
On 16 October 1932 Sheikh alongwith Chaudhary Ghulam Abbas and Molvi Abdul Rahim floated first political party Muslim Conference asserting that the party was for everyone and not communal.
However this did not find favour among Non-Muslims and in March 1933 a committee was formed to contact non-Muslims which forced him to change the name of the party to national Conference in 1939.
Head of emergency administration
When Maharaja Hari Singh appealed to Lord Mountbatten of Burma the Governor-General of India for Indian military aid with his Accession Offer dated 26 October 1947 he wrote “I may also inform your Excellency’s Government that it is my intention at once to set up an interim Government and ask Sheikh Abdullah to carry the responsibilities in this emergency with my Prime Minister.”
Lord Mountbatten accepted the accession after a meeting of the Defence Committee on 26 October 1947. In accepting the accession unconditionally he wrote, “I do hereby accept this Instrument of Accession. Dated this twenty seventh day of October, nineteen hundred and forty seven”. In the covering letter to Hari Singh, he wrote “In consistence with their policy that in the case of any State where the issue of accession has been the subject of dispute, the question of accession should be decided in accordance with the wishes of the people of the State, it is my Government’s wish that, as soon as law and order have been restored in Kashmir and its soil cleared of the invader, the question of the State’s accession should be settled by a reference to the people”. Also in his letter to the Maharaja Lord Mountbatten wrote “My Government and I note with satisfaction that your Highness has decided to invite Sheikh Abdullah to form an Interim Government to work with your Prime Minister.”
The support of Mahatma Gandhi and Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, was a key factor in getting Sheikh Abdullah appointed as Head of the emergency administration by the Maharaja.
As a consequence, Sheikh Abdullah was appointed head of an emergency administration by an order issued by the Maharaja which was undated except for the mention October 1947 in place of the date. He took charge as Head of the Emergency Administration on 30 October 1947.
He raised a force of local Kashmiri volunteers to patrol Srinagar and take control of administration after the flight of the Maharaja along with his family and Prime Minister Meher Chand Mahajan to Jammu even before the Indian troops had landed. This group of volunteers would serve as the nucleus for the subsequent formation of Jammu and Kashmir Militia. This, Sheikh Abdullah hoped, would take over the defence of Kashmir after the Indian army was withdrawn. This was articulated in his letter to Sardar Patel dated 7 October 1948 in which he wrote, “With the taking over of the State forces by the Indian Government, it was agreed that steps would be taken to reorganise and rebuild our army so that when the present emergency is over and the Indian forces are withdrawn the State will be left with a proper organised army of its own to fall back upon.” The Militia (dubbed as Dagan Brigade) was converted from a State Militia to a regular unit of the Indian Army on 2 December 1972 and redesignated the Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry. (To be continued)