Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad: The Architect of Development in J&K
Jammu, April 23: Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad (1907–1972) also known for his developmental initiatives and fast track method, ruled the State of Jammu and Kashmir as Prime Minister for eleven years from 1953 to 1964.
He succeeded Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah after Sheikh was dismissed from Prime Ministership in 1953.
Bakshi’s rule is also called by some as golden era for his talent, hard work and helping nature with many calling him a silent helper.
Political observers believe that Bakshi set Kashmir on the road to progress, pulling its people out of the depths of ignorance, hunger and backwardness. He gave a practical shape to the ideal of “Naya Kashmir”, remained steadfast on his principles and earned enormous fame and goodwill at home and outside Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir made tremendous all-round progress under Bakshi. Targets were fixed and achieved or exceeded in all productive sectors while new avenues of development were identified and explored, they assert.
The state got its first Medical College, an Regional Engineering college, two agricultural colleges, two polytechnics, an ayurvedic college as well as hundreds of new schools. Hospitals and dispensaries were set up throughout the state and hundreds of doctors were trained within the State or nominated to the best colleges in India. Roads were constructed and upgraded throughout the length and breadth of the State. The Jawahar Tunnel, considered a major technical achievement at the time, was constructed. The salaries of government servants were trebled and dearness allowance was introduced for pensioners. The State Public Service Commission was constituted. The Academy of Art, Culture and Languages was set up and the Tagore Hall was constructed. The first Multi-Storey Secretariat Building and Sports Stadium in the state were constructed.
Bakshi was educated at C.M.S Tyndale Biscoe School. He started his career as a school teacher in far flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir like Skardu and Leh and later served in the Kashmir branch of the All India Spinners’ Association. In 1927 he joined Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in the agitation for securing civic and political rights for the State’s Muslim population, which was then under the rule of the Dogra rulers, culminating in the formation of the Muslim Conference in 1930. Bakshi displayed a great talent for organization and capacity for sustained hard work during this period. He organised the students and workers and set up their unions. He was arrested several times during the freedom struggle including a sixteen-month term in Reasi sub-Jail. Within the National Conference party he earned the sobriquet “Khalid-e-Kashmir” after Khalid bin Walid, the great Muslim general.
By 1938, people of all communities had joined the demand for responsible government, which had spread all over the State and the Muslim Conference’s name was altered to National Conference. Bakshi worked underground during this period, keeping a step ahead of the State Police. In 1946, during the “Quit Kashmir” movement, Bakshi escaped to British India when a warrant was issued for his arrest. He visited many places mobilizing public opinion in favour of the Kashmir agitation. After Mahatma Gandhi’s visit to Kashmir the warrant against him was withdrawn and he returned home after seventeen months exile.
In October 1947, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah was released from prison and made Prime Minister. Bakshi became Deputy Prime Minister and was entrusted with the Home portfolio.
In 1948 during the Sheikh’s absence from the State to represent India’s case at the UN, Bakshi took over as the Chief Administrator. In August 1953, Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah was dismissed and arrested, and Bakshi became Prime Minister of the State and also President of the National Conference by majority vote of the State Cabinet. The famous Kashmir Conspiracy Case against Abdullah and others was started during his premiership.
Bakshi proved to be an able administrator and is remembered as the “Architect of Modern Kashmir” because of his constructive work in the State. He had a unique knack of establishing a direct rapport with people at grass-root level land gained tremendous popularity among people of all regions.
On the political front, Bakshi d to face a stiff challenge from the Plebiscite Front which was formed in 1955 but he remained in the saddle with a tight grip over the state machinery. In May 1963 the Congress lost three important Parliamentary by-elections, including a “prestige” contest in which a Union Minister was defeated. Perturbed at the reverses, the AICC, under the Kamaraj plan, decided that some Congress Union Ministers and State Chief Ministers should resign and give all their time to party work. The final selection was left to Jawahar Lal Nehru. After eleven continuous years of Prime Ministership, Bakshi was persuaded to offer just a token resignation in order to strengthen Nehru’s hand even though he did not belong to the Congress party. In a move that typifies the strange relationship between Kashmir and New Delhi, his resignation was accepted along with those of five State Chief Ministers and six Union Ministers, for this had been a clever ploy on the part of Nehru to strengthen his own position and remove leaders who could oppose his daughter succeeding him as leader of the Congress party.
The eleven years of the Bakshi’s Premiership have been the longest continuous stint by any Prime Minister or Chief Minister and are generally acknowledged as a period of stability in the State’s post-independence history. Bakshi had steadfastly resisted any attempt to undermine Jammu and Kashmir’s special status within the Union of India.
In 1964 Bakshi headed the opposition to the Government of Chief Minister Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq. In the late summer of the same year the majority of the legislators compelled him to move a vote of no-confidence against the Government but he was arrested and detained under the Defence of India Rules despite the support of the majority of MLA’s in the State Assembly which was prorogued by the Governor. Bakshi was released on health grounds in December. In June 1965 he made an announcement that he had decided to retire from politics.
Bakshi’s popularity, however, remained undiminished and in 1967 he was elected to the Lok Sabha on a National Conference ticket defeating the ruling Congress nominee, Ali Mohammed Tariq, by a big margin. He remained a member of the Lok Sabha till 1971. He died in July 1972.