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I saw a few usual suspects attacking @vikramaditya_JK tweet crediting saving of Jammu and Kashmir to His Royal Highness, Maharaja Hari Singh. Shame on them. If it were not for Maharaja Hari Singh and the bravery of JK army, Jammu and Kashmir would have been part of Pakistan.
Maharaja Hari Singh started offering accession to India since late August 1947. He knew that his time was limited then, as he was under serious pressure from Pakistan, and India was not willing to even TALK to the Maharaja till he released Sheikh Abdullah from prison.
And Nehru and Patel had their way. Maharaja Hari Singh was forced to release Sheikh Abdullah, though everyone in JK knew that giving the kingdom to Sheikh Abdullah was the stupidest thing possible. However, Nehru was adamant about Sheikh Abdullah being `people's representative'.
Even when Sheikh Abdullah was released, India only signed a `standstill agreement'. Nehru was adamant about not accepting the accession till the kingdom was given away to Sheikh Abdullah. Sardar Patel and Baldev Singh were required to send supplies, according to agreement terms.
What did the great Patel and Baldev Singh do? They evaded supplying petrol and ammo to Jammu and Kashmir, even though the jihadis were invading the state, and the state troops were fighting for their lives in Jammu. They wanted to ratchet up the pressure on Maharaja Hari Singh.
Many Muslims of JK army deserted or mutinied and killed their own colleagues/officers, and Hindus and Sikhs were being slaughtered wantonly in western Jammu. Nehru and Patel watched indifferently. Desperate to save dharmics of JK, Maharaja Hari Singh gave his kingdom to Abdullah.
What happened when Maharaja Hari Singh gave his kingdom to Abdullah and acceded to India? Indian forces were diverted to Kashmir valley, while the Dogra troops fighting to the last man and last bullet were completely ignored and left to die. Nehru and Abdullah didn't want Jammu.
For Abdullah, Jammu was a source of competition. He didn't want Jammu [which was bigger than Kashmir] in the state. Or rather, he wanted as small a Jammu as possible. If that meant that the Hindus and Sikhs of Jammu would be slaughtered, so be it.
For Nehru, it was all a matter of indifference. He was too busy pretending to be a `statesman'. When the Hindus and Sikhs of Mirpur [a town in western Jammu holding out against the Pakistani invaders] came to him to ask for help, he bawled them out. They were irrelevant.
Patel did one better. When the Hindus and Sikhs were fighting for their lives in Jammu, he sent a message to Pakistan asking to swap Jammu and Kashmir for Hyderabad. He didn't care about the state, even though it had acceded. Accession and Indian sovereignty meant zilch to him.
Western Jammu, thus, got no help. Dharmics there were slaughtered or expelled. What was saved was saved only after Maharaja Hari Singh threatened to cancel the accession to India and go and accede to Pakistan to stop the slaughter of Hindus and Sikhs in Jammu.
It was then that Nehru was jolted. He realised that Maharaja Hari Singh meant what he said, and grudgingly sent soldiers to save Jammu. This, then, is the story of the Indian betrayal of dharmics of Jammu and Kashmir. No Indian leader cared about dharmics of Jammu and Kashmir.
And now, a few shameless charlatans are telling us that the one man, His Royal Highness, Maharaja Hari Singh, who did everything to save Jammu and Kashmir from the invaders is the one to blame `for dithering'.
