There was never a serious public demand for holding a plebiscite in Kashmir. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru conceded the demand under the persuasion of Lord Louis Mountbatten, claimed Prof Raghuvendra Tanwar at the release of his book ‘Be Clear Kashmir Will Vote for India— Jammu and Kashmir 1947-1953’.
The author is Professor Emeritus, Modern History, Kurukshetra University.
The book was released at Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML) here this evening, with Jitendra Singh, Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), being the chief guest.
Speaking at the release function, Prof Tanwar said it was astonishing that there was never a bleak possibility of Kashmir never being an integral part of India. He cited a correspondence of the then Prime Minister Nehru with the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir that plebiscite was not a good idea, but three days’ plebiscite was offered by going to the UN Security Council.
“The letter was a confidential document. This has never been released and now made available from the NMML.”
The narrative of the book stems from facts that have been swept aside, he said, citing the debates of the Constituent Assembly which disapproved the decision of referring the matter to the UN Security Council.
Prof Tanwar, who has earlier authored a book on the partition of Punjab, said for the common Kashmiri, there was no question of Hindu and Muslim.
The 1909 imperial Gazeeter records that the so-called “musalmaan” is still Hindu at heart. To argue out, he cited how the local Muslim population did not go with the invading Pakistani army in 1947-48.
Dr Jitendra Singh remarked that the biggest miscarriage of history was the partition of the country. “Partition was never a mass demand. It was the demand of a small group of individuals,” he said.
He cited how the Constitution of Jammu and Kashmir, invoked in 1957, says that the state is and shall remain an integral part of India.