Visitors: 0

The Banished Maharaja - More Maligned and Sinned Against | Hari Singh -The Last Maharaja of Jammu & Kashmir

image
A dashing Yuvraj Hari Singh, 1920, London

“While archaeologists are rummaging through ruins of millennia for scraps of pottery and bits of bones from which to reconstruct some information about prehistorical existence – the events of less than a century ago are hidden under a mound more impenetrable than the geological debris of winds, floods, and earthquakes – a mound of tacit silence wrote Ms. Ayn Rand (July 1966)! History, as it is written, does not always reflect the truth or reveal various facets of truth. Sometimes people get tainted with allegations, not always the truth and yet the stains survive. History always has been a handmaiden of the victors and the powerful. Without the backing of the throne, heroes get cheated of their due.

Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Emperor of Jammu and Kashmir is one such historical figure, much wronged, much maligned, and sinned against than he ever deserved to be. He was banished from his own kingdom due to the whims and caprice of influential people who received power in 1947. He was painted in various shades of grey and black so that the perpetrators could shine in comparison, their crimes forgotten. Today, in the time of social media we talk about false news/ false narratives, slanted, biased media presentations, and manipulated content – it appears that there is very less that is new under the sun. Maharaja Hari Singh too was deliberately vilified personally and depicted as a vacillating ruler, a tyrant, and an autocrat, amongst other negative epithets.

Early Life:
Born on September 23, 1895, at Amar Mahal Palace, Jammu as a scion of the Rajput Dogra dynasty that ruled J&K, Hari Singh was the only surviving son of Raja Amar Singh, brother of the then ruler of J&K, Maharaja Pratap Singh. Since the Maharaja had no son, Hari Singh was declared Heir Apparent to the Maharaja. The Machiavellian British were at their devious worst whenever the question of princely succession surfaced amongst the Indian states – very often extracting a price as the princes quarreled! In 1903, an 8-year-old Yuvraj Hari Singh was made a ‘Page of Honour’ to Lord Curzon during the Delhi Durbar of 1903. At age 13, he was sent to Mayo College, Ajmer – the Eton of India for his princely education. Mayo College was built by the British as an exclusive, snobbish school for the sons of Indian nobility, princes, and the upper class. In 1909, Hari Singh lost his father and the British Resident appointed Maj H.K. Brar as his guardian. After finishing school, Yuvraj was sent to Dehradun for his formal military training at the Imperial Cadet Corps. In 1915, Maharaja Pratap Singh appointed him as Commander in Chief of the State Forces.

Marriage:
Yuvraj Hari Singh married Rani Sri Lal Kunwarba Sahiba of Dharampur State, Gujarat at Rajkot on May 7, 1913; she, unfortunately, died during childbirth in 1915. He then married Rani Dhan Deiji Sahiba of Chamba on November 8, 1915, but she too passed away on January 31, 1920, during childbirth. He then married Maharani Dhanvant Kunver Baiji Sahiba at Dharampur on 30 April 1923 but she too passed away without any children. His fourth and last wife was Maharani Tara Devi of the estate of Taragarh (Kangra, HP) who is said to have come to Jammu in 1928 as a tribute to Maharaja Hari Singh (Dola, in local parlance); she gave Hari Singh an Heir Apparent in the form of a son, Dr. Karan Singh, born on March 9, 1931, at Cannes, France. Hari Singh is said to have reserved the entire third floor of the Hotel Martinez, Cannes for the occasion. Tensions, however, persisted between the Maharaja and his wife till they separated in 1950; post-separation, she lived at Kasauli, HP where she passed away in 1967.

 

Yuvraj Hari Singh earned a name for himself in the European aristocracy as a lavish spender with a taste for good things in life. His wealth and reputation attracted conmen and people who tried to take advantage! In 1918, he was saved by the Scotland Yard from a serious attempt at robbery at the Holdorn Stadium, London after witnessing a wrestling bout. In 1919, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, Captain C W Arthur of the British Army, he was sent to Europe; Captain Arthur was to safeguard the prince from danger in all its forms. Unfortunately, Capt. Arthur proved to be a betrayer of trust; he got the young prince embroiled in a sex scandal in Paris to extort a hefty ransom in 1921. European newspapers, particularly, the British ones, had a field day in printing lurid details about the scandal; Yuvraj Hari Singh, was painted as a modern-day Casanova, a careless spender of money. The key conspirators were caught and brought to justice in a court of law but the damage had been done by then. Yuvraj returned home to face the wrath of his uncle, Maharaja Pratap Singh. He was banished to a remote jungle estate to do penance for 6 months. In humiliation, Yuvraj Hari Singh shaved off his mustache, till then a sacred family tradition! This episode scarred the young prince’s psyche – the betrayal, cheating, and exploitation hurt him and he never forgave the British. The Yuvraj developed a deep mistrust of the British and their nefarious designs though he was intelligent and suave enough not to openly show it.

Yuvraj Hari Singh became the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir after the death of his uncle, Maharaja Pratap Singh, coincidentally on his thirtieth birthday on 23rd September 1925. His coronation was a grand, gala affair. His full Royal Title was Shriman Indar Mahindar Rajrajeshwar Maharaja Dhiraj Shri Jammu Kashmir Naresh Tatha Tibet Deshadhipati. The State of Jammu and Kashmir included Ladakh, Gilgit-Baltistan, Muzaffarabad-Mirpur, Aksai Chin, and Saksham Valley with feudatories like Hunza and Nagar. It was one of the biggest Kingdoms enjoying autonomy and internal sovereignty till 1947. During his coronation, Maharaja Hari Singh said, “If I am considered worth governing this state, then I will say that for me all communities, religious, and races are equal. As a ruler, I have no religion. All religions are mine and my religion is justice. My duty is to look at everyone with equality. I shall, as far as possible, work with justice.” Maharaja Hari Singh had already won the confidence of the people of the Valley, due to his effective handling of the acute food shortage in 1921-22. His efforts had successfully averted a famine. His communal impartiality continued to earn him the goodwill of the people. Unlike his predecessors, Hari Singh was Kashmiri (and Dogri) speaking and Western-educated with very good exposure to the world. He was, no doubt a hard-core product of the feudal order where ruling his subjects was taken to be a God-given birthright. His exposure to the outside world at Ajmer, Dehradun, and later Europe was beginning to impact Hari Singh’s personality. A man not keen on religious rituals, he did not discriminate between his subjects on basis of caste, creed, or religion. Indifferent to the opinions of his fellow co-religionists, he gave importance only to meritocracy and appointed the best of talent in his court, administration, and the army. Maharaja’s personal staff, ADCs, Secretary even cooks were a blend of all religions of his kingdom.

As a monarch, he proved to be extremely progressive, introducing revolutionary socio-economic and political changes. He outlawed begar (forced labor), untouchability, Purdah, and moneylending; threw open the gates of temples to every citizen, introduced widow remarriage, passed the Act of Hereditary State Subject in 1927, introduced major agriculture and land reforms, made primary education free, increased number of schools from 706 to 20,728; encouraged female and adult literacy, set up 2 of the subcontinent’s biggest Hospitals besides the democratic institution of Praja Sabha.

The Cat and Mouse Game with the British
Hari Singh’s relationship with the British was less than cordial - as was the case with his ancestors. British never forgot how Maharaja Gulab Singh had outfoxed them in 1846, creating a princely state WITHOUT A BRITISH RESIDENT. He offered them a nominal annual tribute of one horse, twelve shawl goats of approved breed (six male and six female), and three pairs of Cashmere shawls. Maharaja Ranbir Singh, his successor continued with the trend and it was only after Maharaja Ranbir Singh died on September 12, 1885, that the British were able to find a foothold in J&K. Ranbir Singh had written to the British in 1882 to accept his third son, Raja Amar Singh as his heir, being the wisest of his sons. However, British Viceroy Lord Rippon played the usual Cat and Mouse game with the older son Pratap Singh, forcing him to accept a British Resident as the cost of his Coronation as Maharaja. Even while the state was still in mourning, the British rushed Sir Oliver St John to Srinagar to take over as the first Resident in September 1885.

Realizing the enormous power of the British, Maharaja Hari Singh had no desire to play Don Quixote. As the commander-in-chief of the Jammu and Kashmir Army, he more or less toed the line of appeasement vis-à-vis the British Empire, but from the very day of his coronation, cracks began to develop in his relationship with the British Regent. Things came to a head in 1930 during the first of the Round Table Conferences in London, organized by the British government in response to the growing demands of Swaraj. Officially opened on 13th November 1930 by King George V, the conference was chaired by the then British Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald. As part of their strategy to counterbalance the popular representatives from British India, the British had packed the conference with a large number of rulers from princely states. Jammu and Kashmir, as the largest state had been given pride of place as the foremost princely state in the conference.

Much to the horror of the British, Hari Singh as the Chairman of the Chamber of Princes, literally knocked the wind out of the British strategy when he got up to make his speech: “While Indian Princes valued the British connection, they had full sympathy for the aspirations of their motherland for an equal and honorable place in the comity of nations.” He went on to add, “As Indians and loyal to the land whence they derived their birth and infant nature, the princes stood solidly with their countrymen for India’s enjoyment of a position of honor and equality in the British Commonwealth of Nations.” His outspoken support to the “seditious” demand for independence came as a major setback to the Government of India, for nobody had dared to openly say such things in those days, and in many ways, it set the tone for the First Round Table Conference.

Hari Singh was henceforth a marked man in the eyes of the British - an “unreliable ally”; alarm bells began to ring amidst the strategic planners of the Great Game. The Gilgit Agency promptly came sharply back into focus as a key “listening post” for Central Asia and Russia, by then the Soviet Union or USSR. British started pressurizing Hari Singh to hand over Gilgit to them. The Maharaja was not in favor though he realized that he could not defy the British beyond a point. The cat and mouse game began in the right earnest. British resorted to their time-tested weapon of weakening the Maharaja by fermenting communal trouble in the state. A rabble-rouser from Peshawar, Abdul Qadir, was brought into Srinagar by British intelligence in the garb of a cook for the local British resident. He started to make highly inflammatory speeches from the pulpits of various mosques and was duly arrested and brought to trial. A Muslim mob tried to interrupt the court proceedings by attacking the jail and snatching rifles from the guards; they were fired upon, leading to the death of 23 rioters on July 13, 1931. All hell broke loose. A ‘law and order' situation was turned into a well-planned communal riot, leading to widespread loot and killings of Hindus across Srinagar and other far-flung Muslim-dominated territories of Mirpur, Kotli, Bhimber, and Rajouri. To quote Mr. Jardin (Finance Minister of J&K), 31 places of Hindu-Sikh worship were looted and completely destroyed by the rioters. Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah, an ambitious, suave, Quran-quoting ‘educated’ young Muslim who used the pulpit effectively was also roped in by the British. The objective was to weaken the Maharaja so that he cedes the control of the Gilgit Agency. This was achieved on March 26th, 1935, with the Maharaja ceding control and administration of Gilgit town plus most of the Gilgit Agency and the hill-states Hunza, Nagar, Yasin, and Ishkoman for 60 years to the British – a deed signed by Maharaja and Mr. LE Lang, on behalf of the British Crown. Though Hari Singh had managed to salvage some pride - the British Government explicitly accepting that the territory continued to fall within the boundaries of the Maharaja’s domain, it was obvious Hari Singh would have to pay a larger price for his “disloyalty”.

Even after taking control of the Gilgit Agency, the British were not done with Maharaja Hari Singh. To quote Pt PN Kaul Bamzai, the noted chronicler of Kashmir, the British suddenly found virtue in a people’s movement and started encouraging the rise of Sheikh Abdullah as a major challenge to the royal powers in the state. A new dimension had come into play in the power politics of Jammu and Kashmir – a heady mix of the religion-based quest for the removal of the Dogras. In a society largely uneducated and religious, the parables and words of saints come in handy to inspire as well as rouse. Since Sheikh Abdullah was adept at scriptures, he quickly succeeded in building a large following in the Valley.

Partition and Kashmir: The British Role
Jammu Kashmir was probably the most strategically important of the Princely States in India. Its boundaries touched China, Tibet, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, even being proximal to Russia. Britain never really wanted Jammu and Kashmir to join India for their own future strategies and was therefore pro-Pakistan in their approach. Lord Mountbatten and before him, Lord Wavell, both were military men and their approach was to create a militarily stable Pakistan (the partition pattern of Gurdaspur is a case in the point). It is interesting to note that the Sir Staford Kripps plan for the partition of Punjab was originally devised by Lord Wavell. The water supply in Pakistan, largely, was from rivers originating from Jammu and Kashmir (Indus, Chenab & Jhelum). From the perspective of irrigation in the Punjab region, the Mangala dam in Mirpur was very important. Considering all these factors Britain wanted Kashmir to be integrated with Pakistan. Had this region been in British India, it would not have been difficult to hand over J&K to Pakistan but unfortunately, this was a princely state, about which only the ruler of the state could take a decision.

Hari Singh could also foresee future trouble. From the beginning, he wanted to accede to India. He, however, had serious misgivings about Nehru for his inexplicable fondness for Abdullah. An episode in 1946 added to the complications - Abdullah started an anti-Maharaja agitation (Quit Kashmir) and was arrested on May 15, 1946. Nehru tried to enter J&K to meet/ represent Abdullah but was stopped for trying to enter J&K without formal permission*. Nehru tried to force his way in but his car’s tyres were fired upon and burst. He was arrested on June 22 and kept at a Dak Bungalow at Domel, Muzaffarabad till Gandhi called him back after 2 days. Being vindictive and vain in nature, Nehru never forgot this humiliation and took out his revenge on the Maharaja in the years to come.

*J&K had a permit system for entering the state which continued till 1953. Dr. SP Mukherjee, A BJS member of Parliament protested against this provision. He was arrested on 11 May at Lakhanpur while crossing the border into J&K without a permit. He died as a detainee on 23 June 1953 under mysterious circumstances but the rule was revoked.

image
The only politician Maharaja trusted was Sardar Patel. Hari Singh had shared his reservations about Nehru with the Sardar. On July 3, 1947, Patel proposed to Hari Singh that the interest of Kashmir lay in joining the Indian Union and its constituent.

Maharaja, therefore, had his reasons for procrastinating in taking a decision for joining India:
He wanted to join India and save himself/ his Hindu population from the disaster that was happening in neighboring Punjab. Communal riots had broken out in Punjab from Feb 24, 1947.

  • Entire British machinery, Mountbatten down to the British Resident were putting pressure on him to join Pakistan or, at least keep things on hold
  • Jinnah was offering him several lollypops but Maharaja never trusted him. It must be put on record that Maharaja refused permission for Jinnah to enter Kashmir several times in 1946 and 1947.
  • He had serious misgivings about Nehru due to his arrogance and venality
  • He did not trust Abdullah as he knew he was playing a double game.

Once the partition plan was announced on June 3, 1947, Mountbatten personally came to Kashmir (June 19-23, 1947) to persuade Hari Singh to join Pakistan. In a very interesting twist, Hari Singh refused to meet the Viceroy on the day of his return, pretending colic pain. Mountbatten told Nehru on June 24, 1947, that:

  • He had told Hari Singh not to decide on joining any constituent assembly till the Pakistan constituent assembly was set up and the picture became clearer.
  • He had also suggested that in the interim Hari Singh should not declare independence and enter into a “standstill” agreement with both the new states.

This is exactly what the Maharaja did. He signed a “Stand Still” agreement with Pakistan and also requested India for a similar arrangement. That India did not respond is another story! Mountbatten very reluctantly allowed Gandhi to go to Kashmir in August, only after seeking assurance that the latter would not indulge in any political activity during his stay there. Maharaja all along had his misgivings about Nehru’s protégé Abdullah who was in touch with Jinnah. Abdullah secretly traveled to Lahore in the first week of October 1947 but was humiliated when Jinnah refused to see him by saying that there is no need to see this man as ‘Kashmir is in my pocket’. Jinnah even declared that the coming Eid (October 1947), would be celebrated in Srinagar.

Once it became clear to Jinnah that Maharaja was not keen on joining Pakistan and Abdullah, post his humiliation, was seething for revenge, he was left with just one option – to militarily seize Kashmir. What encouraged him was the rebellion that broke out in Poonch Jagir, an area bordering the Rawalpindi district of West Punjab and the Hazara district of the North-West Frontier Province, led by disgruntled Muslim soldiers who had returned home after participating in World War II. Maharaja refused to absorb these soldiers in his army – as per estimates, Poonch and surrounding areas of Mirpur, Bagh, etc had contributed around 70,000 men to the British Army during WW II and these veterans were looking for re-employment. Maharaja tried to put down the rebellion by force but the fires were constantly being stoked by the British as well as the Pakistanis. The leader of the rebellion, Sardar Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, escaped to Lahore by the end of August 1947 and persuaded the Pakistani authorities to back the rebellion. In addition to the backing, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan authorized an invasion of the state, by the ex-Indian National Army personnel in the south and a force led by Major Khurshid Anwar in the north.

Pakistan launched "Operation Gulmarg" by mobilizing tribals from the North West Frontier Province (NWFP) on 22nd October 1947. About 5,000 tribesmen, fully armed with modern weapons and under the direct control of Pakistan Army commanders, entered Muzaffarabad in motor buses and on foot. At Uri, they met spirited resistance from a small force of the Maharaja's army, led in person by the newly-appointed Chief of Staff, Brigadier Rajinder Singh. Numbering no more than 200, the state forces fought to the last man, to the last bullet, and managed to delay the invaders' advance by about 4 days by blowing up the bridge over River Kishenganga; This gave a critical advantage to the Govt of India to complete its paperwork. The gallant Brigadier Rajinder Singh laid down his life in the action. The invaders captured Uri and then, Baramulla; the fall of Srinagar, just 40 miles away looked imminent. On 24th October, Maharaja Hari Singh appealed to India for military assistance to stop the aggression. Nehru was ready to accept the accession of Jammu and Kashmir in India only after Maharaja Hari Singh transferred power to Sheikh Abdullah. Thus, it was very clear that instead of national interest, Nehru was giving priority to his personal friendship with Abdullah and his personal dislike for Maharaja Hari Singh. Such conditions were not imposed on any other state. Maharaja Hari Singh signed and executed the instrument of accession as per the whims and wishes of Nehru, suffering the humiliation of having to wait for Abdullah’s signature on the instrument of accession. Maharaja Hari Singh had merged the state with India without any condition — none could have been attached as conditional accession was not warranted by the 1947 Act of Independence passed by the British Parliament. However, the strings of plebiscite attached by the Indian government helped Abdullah gain total power.

It is interesting to note that all decisions related to J&K in Delhi were being taken/ discussed not by the Cabinet but by the Defence Committee, headed by Mountbatten. It permitted Mountbatten to play a critical role in policy-making - a role from which he would have been excluded if the initial deliberations had taken place in a meeting of the full Cabinet. Moreover, the meeting on 25 October established a precedent: till the end of 1947, all important questions relating to Kashmir were decided not in the Cabinet but in meetings of its Defence Committee. This allowed Mountbatten to play a role that far exceeded that of a constitutional figurehead and which culminated, at the end of the year, in the decision to refer the Kashmir issue to the United Nations.

Mountbatten and his British Army top brass tried their best to derail the plan to airlift arms and troops to Kashmir, in spite of Sardar Patel’s specific instructions. Commander-in-Chief, General Lockhart, acting in collusion with Field Marshal Auchlnleck took the position that no arms were available in Delhi. The entire British command did everything possible to stall the airlift of troops to Kashmir. The British wanted to give time to Pakistan Army and its tribesmen to take control of as much territory as possible before the snows set in by November. Patel’s acumen saw through this and he ensured that Indian troops started flying to Srinagar on the morning of October 27 – he made a public broadcast over the radio, requesting private planes to airlift the jawans. By 10:30 a.m. Delhi received a wireless message from the Srinagar airfield conveying the news that Lieutenant Colonel Ranjit Rai and his 148 troops of the Sikh Regiment had landed. Mountbatten expressed his unhappiness in these classic words, “With great difficulty, I have convinced Patel that if J&K integrates with Pakistan you should not feel bad. But my entire plan failed. All this happened because of that bloody fool Hari Singh,”! Revealing, indeed!

British Army Brass continued its efforts to work in favor of Pakistan. On 31st October 1947 night, Gilgit Scout Paramilitary Force, led by Major William Brown arrested Brigadier Ghansara Singh, Governor of Gilgit. On 4th November 1947, Major William Brown pulled down the flag of Jammu and Kashmir state, hoisted the Pakistani flag in the region, and declared that Gilgit now belongs to Pakistan. This, in turn, led to the seizure of Chilas, Koh, Ghizr, Ishkoman, Yasin, Punial, Hunza, and Nagar territories. The Gilgit scouts, commanded by British officers, then moved towards Baltistan and Ladakh; they captured Skardu by May 1948. They successfully blocked Indian reinforcements, and captured Drass and Kargil, cutting off the Indian communications to Leh. 

The Indian forces mounted an offensive in Autumn 1948 and recaptured all of the Kargil districts. Baltistan region, however, could not be recaptured due to the implementation of the cease-fire.

After taking over as the Prime Minister Of Jammu & Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah usurped all powers and started issuing a series of statements intended to humiliate and malign the Maharaja, even painting him as unpatriotic. In order to avoid embarrassment, the Maharaja wrote to Sardar Patel on May 6, 1949, and proposed that the Government of India find a suitable position in Delhi where his services could be utilized, befitting his position; there was no response. Under pressure from Sheikh Abdullah, the Maharaja was called to Delhi and was asked to desist from returning to the state and was finally exiled. Thus, the Maharaja was banished from his own land, an action that had neither the sanction of law nor of political morality. On June 20, 1949, the three members of the Dogra dynasty embarked upon their lonely journeys: the Maharaja took a train to Bombay; the Maharani took the road to Kasauli, and the newly appointed Regent, Yuvraj Karan Singh, flew to Srinagar to work with Sheikh Abdullah!

In 1857, the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, was exiled to Rangoon for resisting a foreign power – a case of a native being exiled by a foreign, occupying force — the British. In the case of Maharaja Hari Singh, it was done by his own country's rulers in Delhi for no fault of his. Interesting to compare his position with Nizam of Hyderabad who had also delayed his accession to the Dominion of India. Govt of India had to take ‘police action’ in Hyderabad and yet, since mature men were handling the issue, Nizam was designated as Rajpramukh, a titular yet respectable designation that he continued to hold till 1956. Patel had assured Hari Singh that his stay outside the state would be a 'temporary phase' and he would return after a settlement with regard to the plebiscite was finalized. After signing a proclamation appointing his 18-year-old son, Yuvraj Karan Singh, as the Regent of Jammu and Kashmir, the Maharaja took a train to Bombay on June 20, 1949, and started living there. As events unfolded, the plebiscite never took place and only the ashes of the exiled ruler returned to Jammu in 1961.

Anecdotal titbits were narrated to me by 2 people who were on the personal staff of Maharaja and one of whom stayed with him till his demise in 1961.

  • Maharaja Hari Singh led a lonely life in Mumbai, spending time with his ponies. One day, Maharaja received a note from Nehru, asking him to meet him at the Mumbai Raj Bhavan at 3.00 pm. Maharaja returned the note with the comments,” 3 pm is the time I spend with my horses!” Such was his visceral dislike for Nehru.
  • Shiekh Abdullah was replaced as Prime Minister in 1953 by his deputy – GM Bakshi. One day, while Bakshi was in Mumbai, he received an invitation from the Maharaja to see him. A driver named Kapoor Singh was detailed by Maharaja to bring Bakshi to his Haveli on the Malabar Hills. Maharaja, over a cup of tea, appreciated Bakshi for exposing Abdullah and getting him imprisoned. When the meeting was over, Driver Kapoor Singh was again asked to drop off Bakshi and, Maharaja privately asked his driver to hand over the keys of the car to Mr. Bakshi stating,” Now I won’t ride this car again”. This Rolls Royce was later brought to Srinagar and occupied a pride of place in the Bakshi Brothers’ Vehicle Agency at Amira Kadal.
  • Relations between Maharaja and Karan Singh were never very warm, even though he was the only son. Karan Singh’s joining forces with Nehru and Abdullah turned those frosty. In a fit of rage, Maharaja berated him in not very flattering terms for ‘betraying’ him.

  • When Maharaja left J&K for Mumbai, his daughter-in-law (wife of Dr. Karan Singh) accompanied him. After a few days, Karan Singh came from Srinagar to fetch his wife. Maharaja asked him how he planned to travel with his wife. Karan Singh replied that he would fly to Delhi and then on to Srinagar by a commercial flight. Maharaja told him,” You are a servant of Govt of India, so you travel your way. She is the Daughter-in-Law of Maharaja Kashmir. I shall arrange travel in keeping with her stature”. Maharaja chartered a flight from Mumbai to Srinagar for his Daughter-in-Law and her entourage.

  • On April 26, 1961, Maharaja passed away in Mumbai. Karan Singh and his wife were holidaying in Europe. On his return, Karan Singh was taken to Maharaja’s bedroom, where in a specially carved space, Maharaja’s cash was hidden. As per my contact, the entire amount was handed over to Dr. Karan Singh by the late Maharaja’s personal staff. Far from consoling them, Karan Singh is said to have given them a cold response.

  • Before his death, Maharaja had, from his personal assets, distributed gifts, land, and cash to his personal staff.

The news of Maharaja Hari Singh's passing away was broken by the All-India Radio on April 26, 1961, plunging the Jammu region into a state of shock and confusion. Shock, because he was loved across caste lines in the region; and confusion since they did not know where they should go for mourning. There was no one in the palace. Yuvraj Karan Singh and his wife were on a trip to Europe and the Maharani was in Kasauli. The mourners marched to the residence of Pandit Prem Nath Dogra of Praja Parishad, hoping he would be able to guide them. No one knows how the decision was taken, but the mourners ended up forming a surreal funeral procession, which had neither the dead nor the family of the deceased. The procession proceeded to the funeral grounds by the banks of Tawi, where the funeral rites were performed. No smoke came out of any hearth that evening as a sign of love and respect for the departed soul. However, the state government refused to share the grief of the people. The radio station played songs and the state flag continued to flutter. This was provocative, and the demonstrating youth reacted. They marched to the civil secretariat and attempted to bring down the flag to half-mast, but the police responded by firing at them. Even his lifelong arch enemy, Shiekh Abdullah is said to have acknowledged the late Maharaja’s sense of fair play and respect for his opponents. He was on trial for the Kashmir Conspiracy Case when the sad news arrived. Shiekh is said to have expressed his annoyance at the continuation of court proceedings, requesting a day off as a tribute to the late Maharaja.

In hindsight, the history of the post-1947 subcontinent can’t be fully appreciated without critically examining Maharaja’s role. So far it has never been adequately narrated. Even those who have made such attempts have judged him rather harshly through the eyes of other prominent forces of the time, without applying the test of objectivity and credibility to the sources from where they drew their arguments. It is time we give the late Maharaja his due as a staunch nationalist and, a progressive ruler! He was a typical product of the feudal social system of the twentieth century - yet went on to give his state major socio-political reforms. By ignoring the compulsions under which he operated, machinations and the Machiavellian mindset of the British, history has been horribly manipulated to suit political masters.

image
Maharaja Sir Hari Singh GCSI GCIE GCVO (23 September 1895 –26 April 1961). The Last Maharaja of J&K

 

Comments

    • Dr. Suhul Dhar

      Very Insightful Article ... Keep up the awesome work

      • Suniel Kumar Dhar

        A very detailed and interesting blog written by Mr Sanjeev Munshi Jee on the life of the last Maharaja of J&K ! 

        • Ravi

          Dear Sir .

          This article is a treasure trove of information and needs to be widely circulated. Mahraja Hari Singh contribution to integration of J&K with India  needs to be brought forth to wider audience . Kudos to your effort to bring out the great Nationalist to fore . 

           

          Regards 

        Topics


        Jammu & Kashmir - History, Culture & Traditions | J&K Current Trends | Social Network | Health | Lifestyle | Human Resources | Analytics | Cosmetics | Cosmetology | Forms | Jobs

        Related blogs



        Quote of the Day


        "Time Flies Over, but Leaves its Shadows Behind"