A prince-politician’s spiritual journey

Harbans Singh

A remarkable aspect of An Examined Life by Karan Singh is the spiritual evolution of a prince even when embroiled in tumultuous events of the contemporary Indian history, and the putting together of the author’s warnings regarding regional disparities. One part of the book is clearly a ‘pilgrim’s journey’ while the other deals with the hurly-burly of politics with exertions in creativity added as foot notes.

The book opens with Raghav Verma interviewing Karan Singh and providing a quick look at the compressed past. It then dwells on the dominant forces of today that seem to threaten to demolish the edifice so assiduously built on the principles of liberalism and secularism. It contains a deeply disturbing and dire warning and the fear that the forces that have overtaken the country might remain entrenched for the next 50 years.  

In a pleasant relief, the editor then moves on to the spiritual aspect of Karan Singh. Searching for enlightenment, he seems to have rarely missed an opportunity of engaging with the enlightened men. Apart from his views on Hinduism that have unshackled him from the narrow and rigid definitions of religion and truth, his conversation with the Japanese thinker Daisaku Ikeda of Nichiren Buddhism, is educative and invigorating. The prince turned politician of a republic has, indeed, qualities that make one wonder if he has strayed into this world from the era of Raja Janak.

The portion of the book containing letters and a section of his memoirs is much more interesting and has a bearing on what has recently happened with the dismemberment of the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir. Those who know something about the Nehruvian era are also aware that it was not easy to stand up to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. One needed tact, conviction and the grace to retreat when the occasion so demanded. 

Karan Singh was convinced at a very young age that the problem of Jammu and Kashmir would persist till the aspirations of the people of Jammu are accommodated and hence he repeatedly advocated a dialogue with Dogras. 

Unfortunately, Nehru was convinced that they were rabid communalists and were complicit in the conspiracy to derail democracy and secularism. The result was that Jammu felt the humiliation of reverse domination after having ruled the valley for 100 years and the Kashmir leaders came to be convinced that India would go on making compromises on the issue because of its commitment to secularism. 

The warnings, as well as the solution for getting out of this diabolical situation, were offered by Karan Singh on numerous occasions, first to Nehru and then to Indira Gandhi but were obviously ignored. Nehru’s letter to Karan Singh dated September 9, 1952, in connection with the Jammu grievances, could well be written by Prime Minister Modi to any leader of Kashmir today. 

Nehru was convinced that water scarcity is a major problem of Jammu; Modi is convinced that jobs are a major concern for Kashmiri youth! For both, community pride has no space. In fact, in no small measure, even liberal leaders of Kashmir, like Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq and Mir Qasim, have been as guilty as Sheikh Abdullah in pushing Dogras into a situation where at an opportune time they became tools in the hands of people for whom ‘democratic secular republic’ is an undesirable idea. 

Today, one can only read his letter to Prime Minister Indira Gandhi dated July 10, 1967, and note on autonomy (pages 258-269) with a wry smile. In spite of the fact that the erstwhile State of Jammu and Kashmir has been dismembered, this book is a must read for those who wish to understand the State since the problem is not going to go away in foreseeable future.