The book, titled ‘India: Shedding the Past, Embracing the Future, 1906-2017, written by Arun Bhatnagar has claimed that Guruji played a key role in convincing Maharaja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir to accede the Muslim-majority state to India soon after independence.
Bhatnagar explains how Guru Golwalkar played an important role in the J&K accession saga. It was on the then Home Minister Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s urging that Guruji went to Kashmir to get Maharaja Hari Singh to accede his state to the fledgling Indian Union. Guruji is said to have explained to the Dogra ruler that he better join India than entertain ideas about independence. Hari Singh was inclined to the idea of signing the Instrument of Accession in favour of India and the same was reported back to Patel. However, it was only after Kashmir came under attack from Pakistani irregulars backed by its army that forced Hari Singh’s hand to take the plunge.
When Maharaja Hari Singh, under the influence of his Rajguru Swami Sant Deo who floated the idea of Dogristan, chased away Congress President Acharya J B Kripalani, sent Viceroy Lord Mountbatten trout fishing and even made Gandhiji wait before seeing him, then Sardar Patel reportedly convinced RSS sarsangchalak Guru Golwalkar through M C Mahajan to visit him to convince Hari Singh to accede to India..
According to late Madhavrao Muley, who was then Prant Pracharak of Punjab and J&K, Guru Golwalkar could convince the Maharaja about accession with the Indian Union. The Maharaja sent the accession proposal to Delhi and Guruji directed the RSS workers in Jammu and Kashmir to shed the last drop of their blood for the security of Jammu and Kashmir. After issuing these directions he returned to Delhi. Muley had given the detailed account of this historical fact in the book titled “Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan”.
According to Madhav Rao, “Union Home Minister Sardar Patel, had told Mehar Chand Mahajan, Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir, to prepare Maharaja Hari Singh for the accession of the state to India. Mehar Chand Mahajan conveyed the message to Guruji requesting him to meet the Maharaja and prepare him for the accession. Mahajan had arranged the meeting between Guruji and the Maharaja”
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“Guruji reached Srinagar by air from Delhi on October 17, 1947. The meeting took place on the morning of October 18. During the meeting prince Karan Singh, with his plastered fractured leg, was present while lying on the bed. Maharaja’s contention was that ‘my state is fully dependent on Pakistan. All routes pass through Sialkot and Rawalpindi. Lahore is my airport. How can I have relations with India?’
Guruji made him understand by saying ‘you are a Hindu king’. By acceding to Pakistan your Hindu subjects will have to struggle against grave difficulties. It is correct that there is no road, rail or air link with India but it can be set right quickly. In your interest and in the interest of Jammu & Kashmir State it is better for you to accede to India.”
Prime Minister Mahajan too supported Golwalkar and said to the Maharaja that he was right. We must accede to India. At the end of their meeting, the Maharaja presented a ‘Tosa’ (best quality Pashmina Shawl) to Guruji and conveyed his readiness to accede to India.
After a period of eight days, the Maharaja signed the Instrument of Accession with the Indian Union and thus, the Princely state of J&K became an integral and inseparable part of India.
Source: Organiser
This Post First Published On 19.02.2020
