India@75: Jammu and Kashmir, the conflicts within

Jammu & Kashmir has a proud tradition of Hindus and Muslims fighting together under the national movement. Different principalities in the region under various rulers were brought under one native kingdom by the British under the Amritsar Treaty in 1846. 

Gulab Singh belonging to the Hindu Dogra community was anointed the new Maharajah by the English East India Company under its suzerainty. Hoisting a Hindu raja over a region dominated by the Muslim community immediately led to differences in the kingdom. 

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Serious conflicts arose in 1925 within the Dogra royalty over succession. The British intervened again, appointing Hari Singh as the new Maharajah overlooking the claims of other sections of the royal family. Hari Singh was dictatorial and biased in favour of the upper classes and high caste Hindus.  

The majority Muslim community suffered extreme discrimination, and ordinary peasants and workers were driven to miseries and exploitation. Anger and dissatisfaction spread across the kingdom. 

An organisation called Fathe Kadal Reading Room Party came into being in the 1930s in the kingdom. It was formed by educated Muslim youths based at a local reading room. Shaikh Muhammed Abdulla was the most popular leader who rose from this group. He took the initiative to form a social organisation named Muslim State Conference to fight the discrimination against Muslims. 

Protest and disaffection against the Hari Singh government spread across, and Abdulla converted his organisation into a secular group named National Conference, shedding its Muslim tag. 

National Conference spearheaded the movement against the government's policies with the support of the Indian National Congress. Pandit Nehru, who was also a Kashmiri, became a close friend of Abdulla. 

In 1946, Abdulla launched the Quit Kashmir movement against Hari Singh, who was against Jammu & Kashmir joining independent India. Abdulla was put under arrest, and Nehru arrived in Jammu & Kashmir as a barrister to fight for his friend in the court. 

Hari Singh ordered the arrest of Nehru while he was on his way to Srinagar, leading to widespread protests across the country. But with the dawn of independence, pro-Pakistan forces invaded Kashmir. Defeated and helpless, Hari Singh sought India's help. Indian forces drove back the Pakistanis and Hari Singh acceded his kingdom to the Indian union.

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