Why I Left National Conference
Kashyap Bandhu
[Courtesy: Kashmir
Sentinel Nov. 16-30, 1998]
[Late Kashyap Bandhu whose actual name was Pt Tara Chand
Koiil has remained a legendary figure in Kashmir politics. As a person who
influenced the major social and political trends ofhis times, Bandhu ji has few
equals. When the communal aggression of 1931 hit Pandits in Kashmir, Bandhu ji
abandoned his role as an Arya Samajist in Lahore and returned to Kashmir to give
a new direction to his community and the politics of Kashmir. Bandhu ji
was a man of renaissance. He helped Yuvak Sabha-the political platform of
Kashmiri Pandits to give a complete break to the socially decadent and
feudalistic politics of the earlier leadership. A great social reformer,
an institution builder, a pioneering journalist, Kashyap Bandhu was a man of
many parts. He along with Justice Jia Lal Kilam and Pt Shiv Narain Fotedar
formed the all time great triumvirate of Pandit leadership. He was a mass
leader in true sense, who combined the role of a mainstream leader and a Pandit
leader effectively. Bandhu ji abhorred the politics of sycophancy.
His pleadings to Pandits in joining National Conference were motivated by the
consideration that it would create compulsions for secularisation of Muslim
politics. When he found that the Muslim leadership under Sheikh Abdullah
was insincere in breaking away from religion based politics, he resigned from
the National Conference, A few months after it, another leading Pandit of the
times, Pandit Prem Nath Bazaaz followed suit over National Conference attempts
to communalise the script issue. We are thankful to Bandhu ji's colleague
Sh. SN Gorkha for providing us the text of Bandhii ji's various write-ups
from the old files of 'Desh (pre-1947) and to Prof KN Pandita who collated the
same from Urdu to English. -Editor]
In 1934, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah
issued a statement to the press. It showed his inclination towards
nationalism. In the context of 'nationalism', we met several times in
Kashmir and in Jammu and considered our future course of action. Sheikh
Sahib was of the opinion that we should nationalise Muslim conference as well as
Yuvak Sabha. I thought this was not right and that we should give up both
the organisations and go in for a new Organisation but Sheikh Sahib believed
that MC should be transformed into National Conference.
As far as the question of nationalising the Yuvak Sabha was
concerned I did not consult any
colleague or a friend. My inner voice said that it was an organisation of
a minority community. Much may a minority like to pursue the line of
nationalism, unless the majority demonstrated tendency towards nationalism, the
concept would not meet with any success in this country. My conscience did not
permit me to nationalise the Yuvak Sabha. It was the refuge of a minority
and God alone knew what difficulties would raise their head in the event of
nationalising it.
If the Yuvak Sabha collapsed, its revival would be very
difficult. Those to whom this Sabha belonged had not given me the right
(authority) to make it an experimental ground. I disclosed my inner
feelings to Sheikh Sahib. Therefore, very silently, I separated myself
from Yuvak Sabha. At that time I said in unambiguous terms that I wanted
to take a long jump. I said I had either overgrown to a size that I cannot
be accommodated in Yuvak Sabha or that the Sabha had degenerated to the extent
that it cannot accommodate me. Thereafter I waited in silence for the day
when Sheikh Sahib would announce nationalisation of the Muslim Conference.
I waited for the day to translate our dreams into action.
There is poverty and unemployment rampant in my country.
These painful realities of the country could not be mitigated by Hindu or Muslim
communalism. Only nationalism could deliver the country from these
disasters. In order to get hold of this nationalism, I severed my
relations with the Sabha for whose construction, I had spent six precious years
of my life. In order to achieve nationalism, I severed my relations with
the newspaper for whose strengthening and consolidating I had worked with my
sweat and blood. To achieve nationalism, I did not only estrange hundreds
of my friends, but also disappointed thousands of my dedicated cadres. When I
found that nationalism was beckoning me, I responded to it like a mad man. It
was.precisely what the Persian poet Hafiz had said as
asman bar-i amanat natawanist kashid
qur-a-c fal be nam-e-man-e divana (Zadand).
("The spheres could not carry the burden of trust; it was
1, the mad man, who was earmarked for the job")
Whatever little sacrifice I could make in the first union with
this beloved, I made. It was not out of pride that I did it; not out of
obliging anybody, but as a gift to my new found love. Today, I am
separating from the shelter where we had put up the throne of the Goddess we
believed was a force to banish poverty, penury and unemployment from the
motherland.
When we were set free from the prison houses, and began to work
for National Conference, I felt that venerable Sheikh Sahib wanted to come to
the destination of nationalism through the path of religion. He is our
great leader, and I acknowledge it with all sincerity. But he also wants
to be come the chief of the community (Amir-e-Millat). The desire of
becoming the chief of the community will, unfortunately negate nationalism.
In the circles of our friends it is widely said that whosoever joins the
nationalist fold will have to give up his religion. But this is only to
stir up emotions. Certainly Sheikh Sahib will bear me out that whenever we
happened to stay together after the formation of National Conference, I would
awake him from sleep saying that it was the time to make namaz (prayers).
While he offered namaz, I proceeded with my sandhya (Prayer). However, it
is true that I considered "religious rhetoric a poison when exuded from a
political platform."
Religion and nationalism are two separate things. Despite
many good qualities in religions, we have to agree that different religions have
not only estranged people from one another, but have also been instrumental in
shedding the blood of many innocent persons. You cannot bring the people
of different faiths together in the name of religion. But as against it,
you can unite people with different faiths as well as atheists and
non-conformists under the banner of nationalism. This is so because the
agenda of nationalism, is the agenda of eradication of. unemployment, disease,
and poverty . People, irrespective of religion and faith, are afflicted by these
plights. Religion is related to your soul and to your God. If the
Islamic namaz brings you peace of mind, you may as well perform the namaz as
many times a day as stipulated. If your soul finds peace in Hindu dharma,
you may spend your day in prayers of your choice. If you feel satisfied
and comfortable with atheism, you may as well accept it.
Nationalism does not at all stop you from becoming a true
Musalman, or a true Hindu or a true atheist. But if you want to add
religious appendage to nationalism it means massacre of nationalism, trampling
down its very spirit. When we go to mosques and temples, we should go as
Muslims or as Hindus, and tell the gathering good things about religion which
might bring them individual or social good. But when we mount the platform
of National Conference we are neither Hindus nor Muslims, but citizens of a
nation. We must talk to people about the national issues. Why to
bring in the battles of Bader or of Mahabharata? Is there dearth of
Maulavis, Mullahs and Brahmins in this country so that we also become a Maulavi
or a Brahmin on the platform of National Conference. If we are to become
Maulavi and Brahman, then we already have Yuvak Sabha and Muslim Conference.
What was the need of floating National Conference?
I am conscious that nationalism is at present in its early stage
in this country. I am also conscious that the Muslim brethren in this land
are educationally backward and the religion has predominance in their lives.
We may commit mistakes. But I also know that nationalism can take roots in
this land when effort is made towards it. But this cannot be done on the
basis of "error on principle". Are we to circumvent this idea
for the whole of our lives?
I made several requests to Sheikh Sahib to give proper lead to
this country. If our religious rhetoric continued even on the platform of
National Conference. then we would be lost. My expectations did not come
true. If at any time, I raised my finger towards religion while using the
platform, Sheikh Sahib suppressed it. Not only that, we gave more
religious doses to the masses. What were the consequences?
When NC was formed, we decided to adopt the flag of Indian
National Congress. We unfurled this flag at our branch offices and other
functions. We were to hold a session of NC in Anantnag which had to be
preceded by a session of the working committee which was scheduled to draw the
programme of Anantnag conference. All the Pandit members of the working
committee were unanimous that the flag of the NC should be the tri-colour of
Congress. When the issue of flag came up in the session, Chowdhury Abbas
Khan said that if the Congress flag was to be the flag of NC, the Jammu Muslims
would be annoyed. Sheikh Sahib heard it and tilted towards the opinion of
Abbas Khan. I said that this was not
a sound logic. I said if Kashmiri Hindus tell us that we had raised the
slogan of 'inqulab Zindabad', would that mean that we should give up that
slogan. Nobody was prepared to listen to me. All the members turned
to Sheikh Abdullah. Only one member supported me. A majority vote
decided in favour of the 'plough flag'. I felt belittled. In the
Anantnag conference, religious rhetoric was made full use of. Shri
Girdhari Lal Anand, former member of the working committee protested against
this in the press.
He even wrote to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. The only result
was that Shri Anand lost the membership in the working committee. He was
replaced by Sardar Mohinder Singh who did not attend even a single meeting owing
to his other preoccupations.
Communal posturing became acute. At that time two papers
were brought out in this state, namely Khalid and the Mirror. The former
was issued from Mujahid Manzil and the latter from Hamdard office. The
Khalid reflected Muslim communal politics while the Mirror, reflected Hindu
communal politics. The man behind Khalid is Maulana Mohammed Saeed Masudi
who also happens to the General Secretary of National Conference. Behind
the Mirror is Pandit Prem Nath Bazaz, a member of the NC working committee.
When we ascend the nationalist platform, we tell the world that
we are free from Hindu-Muslim communalism, But when we return to private place,
we add fuel to communal flames and become editors-in absentia of communal
newspapers. All this is happening before the very nose of Sheikh Sahib.
If the General Secretary of NC and member of the working committee fan the
flames of communalism in a manner they are doing, how then can nationalism grow
in this country? All these happenings took place prior to my resigning
from NC.
Apart from this communal duel, there are other reasons as well
related to constitution and such like matters. As I have said, our
experiment with nationalism in this country is in the early stage. Our
activists can commit mistakes and if our hearts are clean then mistakes can be
rectified. Last year, there ensued lengthy correspondence between me and
the general secretary with regard to these mistakes. I was understanding
that the conference was committing mistakes. Likewise the general
secretary and the president may be thinking that I was committing mistakes.
Who is wrong and who is right could be decided by the working committee only.
I repeatedly wrote to the general secretary to convene a meeting of the working
committee anc place the entire correspondence before it. He did not pay
attention to these requests. A session ol working committee was held in
Mirpur also in routine. But there again, the general secretary did not
place this correspondence before the WC. I hope he will not deny this.
But if he denies, then I arm prepared to release this entire correspondence to
the press.
Auqaf Committee
After converting Muslim conference into NC, Sheikh Sahib
constituted the Auqaf Committee, himself becoming its chairman. The
general secretary of the Auqaf committee became the secretary of Auqaf
Committee. I had implored Sheikh Abdullah to hand over this committee to
other Muslims. I said there were 16 lakh Muslims in the state and did he
think there was not a single true Musalman among them who could be the chairman
of Auqaf and would run it? I told him that it did not behave the president
of NC to be a political leader as well as a religious leader at one and the same
time. I said it was necessary to hand over the presidentship of Auqaf to
some body else because the Hindus in Kashmir were also opposing nationalists.
Auqaf committee would become a den of intrigues and cause for tension.
Sheikh Sahib said as this : "The government has given these mosques to
me"! I said these were not given to your person. These have
been given to you and in your capacity as the president of Muslim Conference.
Now that you are the president of NC you should hand over the Auqaf Committee to
some honest and religion abiding Musalman. At the best you can ask this
committee to show you the monthly account of income and expenditure which can
give you an idea: how the affairs of Auqaf are being conducted.
Sheikh Sahib was not prepared to accept what I said. I
cannot accept the proposition that there is not a single person except Sheikh
Sahib among lakhs of Muslim who can run the affairs of the Auqaf. If
Sheikh Sahib or anybody else thinks so they want to arrest the intellectual
growth of Muslims. If only those one dozen people are there to run the NC
and the Auqaf, then the demand for responsible government is only a fiction.
Gradually it dawned upon me that Sheikh Sahib did not want to be
only the leader of the nation (Qaid-e-Millat), but also the religious leader of
the community. Obviously, I told him, it meant that by associating himself
with National Conference, he apprehended that the Muslims would not be prepared
to follow him. Sheikh Sahib was thus afraid of mob-fury. Thus he
thought that there was only one way of carrying the people with him and that was
through religion. But, I said, religious injection from nationalist
platform was tantamount to poison.
May 28 : NC working Committee's statement carried an incomplete
sentence which I reproduce below.
"Respected Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. In connection
with Nehru Sahib's visit to Kashmir, a meeting of the prominent leadrs of NC was
called in Mujahid Manzil on May 28 to nominate a reception committee. At
the outset of the meeting, Pandit Kashyap Bandhu asked the President of NC
Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah with whose permission had he invited Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru to visit Kashmir. Some more matters were also brought under
discussion not connected with the reception. This generated a heated
discussion and the matter ended there".
The general secretary made a mention of "some more
matters" and stopped with that. He did not disclose the contents of
those matters which had made Sheikh Abdullah utter "I am first a Muslim and
last a Muslim". There were some matters like this which compelled me
to resign. I would like to make a mention of these.
Last winter, I stayed back in my village for almost four months
while Sheikh Sahib proceeded towards Hindustan. On his return, he thought
it necessary to activise the people. Conditions were created by some of
his colleagues with communal mentality under which Muslim League activists had
ventured to capture Mujahid Manzil. He therefore, galvanised the Auqaf
Committee into action. The president of National Conference cast aside the
"nationalist" garb and assumed the attire of the commander of the
community (Amor-e-Millat). He began delivering speeches in each locality.
In one of those speeches, he said, Islam is the sun, and the rest of the
religions are only stars. It means that as with the rising sun, all stars
fade away, similarly with the rise of Islam, all other religious will fade away.
If this kind of sermonising is done by the Mir Wair, or Hamadani Sahib, or some
other Musahnan, I shall have no objection. But if the president of
National Conference makes such utterances, what then shall be the fate of
nationalism in this country.
A Hindu friend sent me a copy of this statement when I was in my
village, I was sad. After this, and probably on May 25, I received a
letter from Pandit Jiyalal Kilam informing me that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru was
to visit Kashmir and that I should rush to Srinagar. On May 26, 1 was in
Srinagar. I received information from the general secretary that a meeting
was proposed to be held on May 28 at Mujahid Manzil in connection with the visit
of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru in which I should participate. Pandit Sahib
(Nehru) was scheduled to arrive on May 30 now, imagine that I was a member of
the Working committee and in the evening of May 26, I was told that Nehru Sahib
was arriving on May 30 in Srinagar. On the evening of May 28, 1 arrived in
Mujahid Manzil and I inquired of the general secretary whether Nehru was
visiting Kashmir as the guest of NC or as the guest of Sheikh Sahib? The
general secretary understood me and parried an answer for more than half an
hour. On my insistence, he finally came out. "Pandit Jawaharlal
Nehru is coming to Kashmir as the guest of Sheikh Sahib". This answer
put a seal on all questions, I had in my mind.
A short while later, a meeting of ordinary workers of NC was
held in the compound of Mujahid Manzil. In this meeting a question was
asked from Sheikh Sahib whether Pandit Jawahalal Nehru was visiting as the guest
of NC or as his guest. Sheikh Sahib said that he (Nehru) was the guest of
NC. This contradicted what the general secretary had said earlier to me.
I did not think it proper to ask more questions from Sheikh Sahib in a public
meeting like that.
The public meeting was followed by our closed door meeting
attended by nearly 30 prominent Hindu and Muslim comrades. I give below
the text of the questions and answers between myself and Sheikh Sahib in this
meting.
I (KB) : Sheikh Sahib, you say that Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru is
visiting as the guest of NC. With whose permission has he been invited?
SMA : What do you precisely mean?
KB : Have you consulted the Working Committee and did it permit
you to extend the invitation? Visit of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to Kashmir
is not an ordinary event. There are dozens of political implications
involved.
SMA : You are putting hurdles in the way.
KB : NC is a democratic organisation and we want democracy to
prevail here.
SMA (in English) : I want to hang your democracy.
KB (in English) : And I want to hang your dictatorship.
SMA (in English): If you don't like dictatorship, you can leave
this place.
In deference to the orders of the Hon'ble President I left the
room. Some Hindu and Muslim colleagues also came out with me. A row
ensuded outside the room. I wanted to go home but these members did not
permit me to go. This stalemate continued for about half are hour.
Mr. Shadad manipulated things in a way that I had to go back into the room.
Back in the room the President said that he was sorry for the words he had said,
and I accepted it.
Then my question why the Working Committee had not been
consulted came up again. If the government prevented Pandit Nehru from
coming or if those opposed to NC or Congress staged demonstration in protest,
what was to be done. Questions like these surfaced. Then at this
point, I told Sheikh Abdullah that he was creating difficulties for the NC by
his attitude. I precisely said." You are riding two horses. You
have made the Auqaf Committee a base for propaganda.
Maulana Muhammad Saeed Sahib is the General Secretary of NC.
But he is the incognito editor of Khalid. Mr. Prem Nath Bazaz is the
incognito editor of the Mirror. You are in know of all this and yet you
are silent. These antics will not bring the people closer to nationalism
but in fact distance them from it. People are criticising nationalism without
justification. But by our action we shall be providing them the convincing
argument." I told Sheikh Sahib that he had no right to draw comparison
between Islam and the rest of the religions on public platforms : "you had
no right to call Islam as the sun and other religions as the stars."
He replied, "you must remember that I am a Musalman first
and a Musalman last". I invited the attention of the people present
to these words of Sheikh Sahib. Pandit Jiyalal Kilam told Sheikh Sahib
that he should not have uttered those words. You should have said that you
are a Musalman as well as a nationalist. The Sheikh asked 'why then are
you a nationalist?"
SMA : 'Because the Holy Quran directs me to become a
nationalist." I send curses to that
nationalism which the Holy Quran doesn't permit.
After hearing this explanation of 'first a Musalman and last a
Musalman" theory from Sheikh Sahib, I chose to remain silent I could now
understand Sheikh Sahib's religious rhetoric over last one year and half.
I also realised that my nationalism cannot be religion based nationalism.
In the presence of all the members there, I told Sheikh Sahib
that I could no more continue to repose trust in National Conference because
there was difference of principle between your
nationalism and my nationalism; you want nationalism of "first-Musalman and
last Musalman". But I stick to the principle of "first Indian
and last Indian." I worship this principle whose interpretation is
based on the prevailing hunger, destitution and unemployment of the masses.
At about midnight, I returned from Mujahid Manzil. I was a
man lost to myself. I felt like a man who had just awoken from a
horrifying dream and who was still in a state of trauma owing to the darkness of
the room in which he stood.
The meeting resumed in the Mujahid Manzil next day. There
was no attraction left for me. To me this meeting was no different from
the type of meeting that used to be convened at the time of Muslim League, or
like a meeting at Sheetal Nath in which some communal issue was being discussed.
The same day at about four o'clock in the afternoon, I handed
over my letter of resignation to a friend of mine in NC which reached the
general secretary on the following day.
Now, I am here with my hunger, destitution and
unemployment-stricken nationalism. And in this quagmire are bogged down
the people of this country irrespective of their religion, community and caste.
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