Central varsity VC justifies role of Maharaja Hari Singh

Lalit Mohan

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Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, February 12

Touching a controversial chapter in the history of India, Vice-Chancellor of the Central University Himachal Pradesh (CUHP) Kuldeep Agnihotri has justified the role of the former ruler of Jammu and Kashmir, Maharaja Hari Singh, in the post-Independence era and accession of J&K to India.

In an exclusive interview with The Tribune, the Vice-chancellor said through his research, he had tried to break the myths regarding the role of Maharaja Hari Singh in the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India.

He said Hari Singh was blamed for delaying the accession treaty on the plea that he wanted to remain independent and due to the said Act India lost some parts of J&K to Pakistan.

Agnihotri said he had researched and written a book on Maharaja Hari Singh, in which facts which already existed had been brought to the fore. Facts state that Lord Mountbatten wanted that J&K should be a part of Pakistan. He went to meet Maharaja Hari Singh in June 1947 two months before Independence to press upon the later to allow accession of J&K to Pakistan on the plea that Muslims comprised 70 per cent of the state’s population. Hari Singh never agreed to the idea. He also declined to meet Lord Mountbatten when he came to meet him again before Independence with the same idea. “The fact has been written by the Maharaja in his book,” the VC said.

He added that it was a general perception that Hari Singh delayed the inking of the accession treaty with India due to which some areas of the state were lost to Pakistan. However, Mehar Chand Mahajan, Prime Minister of J&K, had written in his book that Maharaja had sent his emissaries to the Government of India to sign the accession treaty. However, the first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, put a condition that Hari Singh should first hand over his power to Sheikh Abdullah. He was ready to sign the accession treaty with India, but declined to hand over his power to Sheikh Abdullah.

On October 22, 1947, when Pakistan attacked Jammu and Kashmir, Hari Singh sent his Deputy Prime Minister Ram Lal Batra to India with a signed accession letter. However, the Government of India refused to accept it.

The VC said it was only after Maharaja Hari Singh handed over his power to Sheikh Abdullah that VP Menon was sent to Jammu and Kashmir to sign the accession treaty with him. He said there was no written record to illustrate that Hari Singh had expressed his desire to be independent from India. He, in fact, in a conference in London in 1931 had declared that India was one and it was his motherland.