The idea behind the formation of Praja Parishad was the establishment of a political entity for those who had different ideological convictions. The Praja Parishad was always keen on supporting the national cause, hence it had accepted working in collaboration with the National Conference. But, very soon,  the president of the National Conference – Shaikh Abdullah, got carried away by the outlook presented by his Communist friends, especially those from foreign lands.

Shaikh’s ambitions reached sky-high with their influence.  The Communist political parties played an executioner role in pushing Shaikh to this route. Ironically, Pandit Nehru too was maundering in the dream world of international opinions. Shaikh and Pandit Nehru together suppressed the strength of Nationalist political outfits. The then Prime Minister’s continuous shielding of Shaikh Abdullah impelled the Praja Parishad to retaliate and agitate. It also proved beneficial as after the initial consternation, eventually, it intensified their determination and resolve.

Shaikh Abdullah was born in 1905 in Srinagar. His family was involved in Shawl making business. He lost both his parents in childhood and was raised by his older brothers. Shaikh studied in Shri Pratap College in Srinagar,  till Inter, and later, obtained a graduation degree from Punjab University in Lahore. For further studies, he joined Aligarh Muslim University in 1928 and obtained the degree of Ms.C in Chemistry in 1930. On his return, he took up a job as a teacher at Srinagar high school.

Maharaja Hari Singh had created a Civil Service Employment Board, where the entrants were selected on their merits. Shaikh Abdullah opposed this policy and resigned from his service in the Government school.  He gathered the Muslims in the nearby mosque and gave igniting speeches. He accused Maharaja of keeping the Muslims away from obtaining Government jobs. He also condemned Maharaja’s Tax policy and stated that Kashmiri businesses suffer from heavier taxes. He criticized the state policy of strict action against Muslims for Cow slaughtering. He denounced that the bureaucracy has been suppressing the people.

Aligarh Muslim University was the center for radical thoughts as well as a hub for various global political ideologies. The students at the University came across and interacted with literates, thinkers, and followers of a variety of ideas. These, just out of University, students began the tradition of meetings in the “Muslim  Reading Room”. The same Reading Room group instigated the agitation against Maharaja Hari Singh in July 1931. 

Until then, there were hardly any instances of distress and turbulence amongst common Hindus and  Muslims, but this time the instigation turned violent. The shops belonging to Hindus were burnt and looted. A few Hindus were murdered, too. Such animosity had not really prevailed among common Hindus and Muslims and this was a new beginning. The revolt by Muslim Reading Room had the full support of the British. Even Maharaja HariSinh’s “trusted” Prime Minister G.E.C. Wakefield was favoring it. 

The anti-Hindu literature was being printed in Punjab and sent into Kashmir Valley and it was used to ablaze the Muslims against the Hindu king and Hindu population. The content in the literature addressed the Maharaja’s rule as Hindu rule and condemned it as,  having the intention of keeping the Muslims, slaves forever. Muslims were encouraged to sacrifice themselves and their everything, in the name of religion and their community. An organization, in name of the Kashmir Muslim Conference, was established in Lahore and it would incite religious revolt.

Maharaja realized this conspiracy of the British and hence, he immediately decided to relieve Prime Minister Wakefield and appointed one renowned administrator, Hari Krishna Kaul in his place. Kaul’s genuine efforts resulted in reconciliation between the agitators and the state government. The agitation was halted and the political prisoners were set free.

Immediately, Maharaja appointed an inquiry commission under the Chief Justice of the High Court of the state. This, Maharaja and his Prime Minister Kaul, dismantled the design of the Kashmir Muslim Conference and their caretaker British officers, of blazing revolt in the state. Kashmir Muslim Conference had no intention of taking a backseat. They re-opened the agitation from Lahore. They not only opposed this settlement but instigated people to restart the revolt. Once again, the inflaming literature, from Punjab, began flooding Kashmir.

Shaikh Abdullah once again began venomous speeches, accusing Maharaja to be anti – Muslim. The state police arrested him on the 24th of September 1931. The British were waiting for this incident to happen!!!

They immediately grabbed the role of arbitrator between the two. The Regent issued an ultimatum to Maharaja and intimated him to accept and implement it within Twenty-four hours. Accordingly, a) Maharaja would request the British Government to appoint a British officer to enquire regarding complaints as well as demands of Muslims. b) Any Britisher to be appointed as the state’s Prime Minister. c) To immediately send Daya Kaul, brother of Prime Minister Hari Krishna Kaul, into exile.

The communal Muslim organizations of Punjab began attacking the Hindus in the border areas of Kashmir like Mirpur and Poonch. The Ahraar party of Punjab was actively inciting these attacks and sending their squads to the princely state. These squads were igniting communal violence. They were indirectly supported by the British. Seeing the citizens in peril, the distressed Maharaja would have no choice but to request the British to send their army, for help.

That was the strategy of the British and everything happened accordingly. Maharaja had no choice but to seek aid from the British.  British Government, waiting for this moment, sent their army on the 3rd of November, and on the 7th of November, the British Government imposed a ban on the Punjab squads to enter Kashmir. on the 12th of November, Maharaja “appointed” an inquiry commission under political officer B J Glancey. 

In March 1933, another British officer Elliot James Dowel Collwin was appointed as the Prime minister and three more British officers were posted on the important portfolios of Home, Revenue, and Police.  Thus, the entire princely state administration was engulfed by the British Government. Now, the British no longer required Shaikh Abdullah and his gang. They had achieved their goal, shooting off Shaikh’s shoulder. 

Shaikh planned to initiate the Civil Disobedience movement but the British officers crushed it thoroughly. The hidden intention of the British, to stand in support of Shaikh Abdullah and his communal forces, was to pressurize Maharaja, to obtain the spot of Gilgit on a long lease.  Earlier, the Maharaja had refused to agree to this demand. Now, the British Government had created such a scenario that compelled the Maharaja to agree. 

Maharaja signed a lease agreement in 1935 and gave Gilgit to the British Government on a 60-year lease. The Gilgit, including the Hunza valley and Nagar valley (the original princely state), came under the dominance of British political agents. Shaikh’s political journey began with a British conspiracy. He had turned into a British stooge, to project himself as the leader of Muslims but in reality, he himself did not consider himself the leader of the entire princely state. His political activism was limited to Sunni Muslims of Kashmir valley. Neither the  Kashmiri Hindus nor the Sikhs regarded him as their leader. Now, the British had served their purpose and turned their back on him, he was left alone.

Around the time, he came in contact with Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who belonged to Kashmiri descent. Through Pandit Nehru, Shaikh was introduced to Indian National Congress, and thus, he gathered knowledge of people’s movements against the Kingship, in various princely states. Pandit Nehru belonged to an affluent lineage and had gathered exposure to the foreign education system. Hence, had nurtured Socialist and Secularist idealism. He considered Shaikh on a similar note as a revolutionary and secular leader.

Shaikh grasped that he needed to overturn his fanatic and communal image in the changed political atmosphere. Now, that the British had cut off all ties with him, he needed a new support system to grow and attained leadership against Maharaja. Hence, he broke away from the old Muslim Conference and created his new political outfit, National Conference. A few of his old pals from the Muslim Conference joined him but he refrained from limiting the new party’s membership to Muslims only. But, the majority of Kashmiri Hindus could never relate to National Conference. Later, when the party toyed with the idea of adopting Russia’s Communist ideology, a group of people Kashmiri Hindus joined the National Conference. The Communist party had created a small clique among the Kashmiri Hindus.

But, in spite of this, Shaikh’s influence was limited to the Valley. Ascending his personality and turning him into the leader of the Princely State, was done by Pandit Nehru. Knowing the strategic importance of Kashmir, it does sound shocking yet Pandit Nehru was agreeable to annex the princely state of Kashmir, only under one condition –  If the governance of Kashmir was handed over to Shaikh Abdullah!!!

And, with no other choice, for accessing Kashmir, Shaikh was made the Emergency administrator in October 1947. Post that, Nehru pressurized for appointing Shaikh Abdullah as the Prime Minister of the state., Maharaja appointed Shaikh as the Prime minister on 5th March 1948 and handed him the right of selecting the cabinet. On Shaikh’s incessant insistence, the Government of Bharat compelled Maharaja to quit his Motherland, Kashmir.

The new Regent Karna Sinh was underage, inexperienced, and immature. Hence, all the power of the administration was vested with Shaikh. To date, Shaikh Abdullah’s governance had always been that of a dictator. He was never a messiah of liberal democratic values. Till 1947, these traits remained hidden but by the end of the year, when the National Conference gained power, his true colors became apparent. From 1947 to 1953, Shaikh Abdullah remained in power, with the endorsement of Pandit Nehru.

Shaikh Abdullah acted with vengeance against the officers appointed by the Maharaja. Chetram Chopra, the former governor of Jammu was initially shifted to Kashmir and later, suspended. The case was filed against him in Jammu, in so-called (unproved) communal events and he was banned from stepping out of Srinagar.

As We have seen earlier, Shaikh had remained the leader of Sunni Muslims and had not obtained dominance over the Hindu population of Jammu. His communal mindset never allowed him to conduct secular and democratically. Hence, he adopted the measures of changing the demography of the state. Around 2948, Udhampur had mix population of Hindus and Muslims, and Hindus were in majority. He formed a new district of Doda comprising the Muslim population. Bhadrawah, Kishtwad, and Ramvan having a larger Muslim population were formed into the new Doda district and which separated the Jammu region from Ladakh. Eventually, he had planned to amalgamate Doda into the Valley. Similarly, a very mammoth part of Riyasi district was annexed into Poonch.

These were clear indications of Shaikh Abdullah’s administrative policies based on the Communal notes. In 1846, Maharaja GulabSinh created a religious trust, known as ‘Shri Raghunathji’s fund” and donated Five Lakhs from his personal wealth. This fund was used for various religious purposes. The funds were utilized for establishing Sadavrat on the pilgrimage destinations and for renovation and restoration of the religious places and manage its operations to establish Sanskrit pathshala and do related religious works.

In 1884, Maharaja Ranveer Singh created a constitution for the fund and made it into a trust, thus it could be useful in the future, too. In 1932, the trust opened the doors of all the temples for Harijans, too. 

Shaikh’s Government confiscated the entire wealth of the trust. There was a Sanskrit research department in the Archeological section. It had printed Sanskrit manuscripts obtained from Gilgit and Ladakh. The department had an annual budget of Twenty Thousand Rupees.  Shaikh Abdullah shut this department.

The state had a Sanskrit research department that encouraged Sanskrit education and research work. The National Conference shut off this department, too, and started Dar-ul- Uloom, in its place for Arabic studies. The partition and the Pakistani attack on Kashmir caused the massive problem of the re-settling of refugees. Pakistan not only wanted to occupy Kashmir but wished to throw out Hindus and Sikhs from their motherland. It is believed that around Ten Thousand Hindus and Sikhs were assassinated in one night. Such a fearful situation caused enormous migration of Hindus and Sikhs from Pakistan-occupied parts of Kashmir to Mirpur, Poonch, and Muzaffarabad. Thousands of exiled Hindus and Sikhs migrated as refugees and wished to reside in Bharatiya Kashmir. Moreover, they were state subjects. Around Seven Lakh acres of fertile land was unoccupied in Jammu, only and they could be settled in it, easily but Abdullah Government had reservations about settling them in Jammu or Kashmir region.!!!

Eventually, they were sent to faraway places like Bhopal, Bharatpur, and Ganganagar. Contradictory to it, the Shaikh Government was eager to settle Kazaak Muslims from China and Turkestan.

The Government was to provide for and help the migrated Hindus and Sikhs, in the settlement, post-partition but instead, it was causing obstacles. The unfortunate Hindus and Sikhs who had suffered the pain of displacement from their roots were not granted a piece of land and respectful living in Kashmir valley.  They were sent to Jammu and Yol Camp in Kangra in Himachal Pradesh.

Instead of planning their permanent settlement,  Shaikh Abdullah Government did not even register their wealth for a long time. Later, in 1961, the selected 31,600 families were registered and few selected families received compensation.

Sources of Information :

हमारी भूलोका स्मारक : धर्मांतरित कश्मीर: नरेन्द्र सहगल

कश्मीर : दहकते अंगारे: जगमोहन जी

जम्मू कश्मीर की अनकही कहानियां: कुलदीप चंद अग्निहोत्री

Kashmir : Behind The Vale: M J Akbar

My Frozen Turbulence in Kashmir: Jagmohan ji