JAMMU: National Conference (NC) founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah conspired to have Maharaja Hari Singh Ji sent in exile. Prime Minister Nehru colluded with his friend Sheikh and this NC-Congress conspiracy drove the Maharaja out of Jammu & Kashmir, BJP spokesperson Arun Gupta said on Saturday. Recalling the events of April 1949, Mr Gupta said it was the coming together of Sheikh and Nehru that led to hounding out of the Maharaja from here.
Recalling the events of April 1949, Mr Gupta said that as part of this conspiracy, PM Nehru invited Maharaja Hari Singh to Delhi for consultations. The Maharaja went to Delhi along with his wife, his son Karan Singh, some of his close aides and advisors. Once in Delhi, the Maharaja checked in at Hotel Imperial on Janpath along with his retinue. At this time, the Maharaja had no inkling of Nehru’s intentions who was acting on Sheikh’s advice, Mr Gupta recounted.
One day, Karan Singh was invited by PM Nehru for breakfast at his residence and asked to take over as Regent in his father Maharaja Hari Singh’s absence from Jammu & Kashmir. On an official dinner a day earlier, the Maharaja was told that he could not go to his state come what may. The Maharaja and his wife were shell shocked at this revelation that he was being asked to stay out of J&K indefinitely.
The Maharaja loved his state of Jammu & Kashmir dearly and spent nearly two months at Delhi and Dehra Dun. During this period, he met PM Nehru more than once and tried to argue that preventing him from going back to Jammu & Kashmir was an unfair move. However, the Maharaja’s repeated discussions with Nehru proved futile as the latter had decided to side with Sheikh. It was apparently Sheikh’s precondition before Nehru in lieu of his cooperation that the Maharaja be kept away from Jammu & Kashmir, Mr Gupta said giving details.
The Maharaja was shattered by this treachery of Sheikh Abdullah in which PM Nehru was a willing conspirator. When the Maharaja realised that he was being forced into exile, he chose to go to Bombay (present day Mumbai). On June 20, a heartbroken Maharaja left Delhi, his wife went to Himachal Pradesh and Karan Singh went back to J&K at Nehru’s bidding. The three members of the Maharaja’s family then went in three different directions, separated by the cruel conspiracy of Sheikh. Years later, the Maharaja died in Bombay in April 1961, but after that fateful day 12 years earlier in April 1949, he never set his foot into J&K.
In contrast to this, the BJP has always been laudatory of the accession of J&K to India by the Maharaja on October 26, 1947. Accordingly, it got October 26 declared as a holiday to mark and celebrate the accession day in 2020. Two years later, in 2022, the birthday of Maharaja Hari Singh ji was also declared a holiday. In this manner, two very important days/events associated with the Maharaja have been marked by the BJP for the years to come, Mr Gupta concluded.
