Ramakrishna Hegde & the politics of Article 370

He strode the Indian political scene like a colossus in the 1970s and 80s leaving his inimitable and remarkable mark on every issue which mattered—whether it was the coming together of democratic forces to take on Indira Gandhi after the Emergency or the descent of Kashmir into a hotbed of terror, which continues to haunt the sub-continent till this day. The lucky few who had the honour of knowing and interacting with Ramakrishna Hegde, remember him as a committed and sentimental leader, a breed rare among today’s go-getter politicians and someone whose views were respected across the spectrum even by his fiercest rivals. Hegde may not have become prime minister but he was one of the few leaders from Karnataka who would have eminently fitted the bill though the vagaries of politics denied him the opportunity. On his 93rd birth anniversary, Deccan Chronicle presents a tribute to Hegde by his long-time friend Prathibha Prahlad

Had Ramakrishna Hegde lived, I am certain he would have been one of the first to congratulate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah on the abrogation of Article 370 and the division of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh into two separate Union Territories.

If you remember, one of the earliest crises that V.P. Singh had to face as PM, was the kidnapping of Home Minister, Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s daughter Rubaiya by JKLF militants on 9th December 1989.

V.P. Singh came in for sharp criticism for agreeing to release five captured militants in exchange for Sayeed’s daughter. Hegde was dead against this. He counselled the PM & other colleagues, including I.K. Gujral & Mufti Saheb that such attacks would continue if the government did not take a tough stand and refuse the militants’ demands. Though all agreed with him in private, in public it was only CM Farooq Abdullah who was vociferously against this exchange.

But Mufti Saheb was distraught. It was his daughter after all and how could he sacrifice her safety and life for the lives of a few militants?

After this incident, Hegde advised V.P. Singh to relieve Mufti Saheb of the Home Ministry. He said that India’s HM could not be viewed as a weak person. But V. P Singh’s hands were tied since it was a coalition govt.

Mufti Saheb, the first Muslim HM of India, who until then, was for completely quelling militancy, somehow lost his perspective and thousands of Kashmiri Pandits had to flee their homes as terrorism had reached its peak in the Valley. When the VP Singh govt. fell,he rejoined the Congress party and later in 1998, started his own party called J&K People’s Democratic Party with his older daughter Mehbooba Mufti, whose agenda was autonomy.

Hegde’s open standpoint on the kidnapping issue made him a friend of Farooq Abdullah who believed that this had opened the floodgates of terrorism in the Kashmir Valley. That Farooq Abdullah is speaking a different language today is another matter. Graver though is what Mehbooba openly said about the decision to join the Indian Union.

In the last month, I have often wondered what Hegde might have said to Abdullah & Mehbooba. I say this because Hegde was completely convinced way back in late 1980s that the only solution to the Kashmir problem was abrogation of Article 370 and the trifurcation of the state into Jammu, Kashmir and Ladakh.

In 1999, the hijacking of Indian Airlines flight 814 to Kandahar led to the release of three dreaded terrorists Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Ahmed Omar Sayeed Sheikh and Maulana Masood Azhar. These three terrorists went on to mastermind the Mumbai terror attacks in 2008, not to mention several attacks in the Kashmir valley. The Kandahar hijacking has been one of the most significant millennium attack plots by Al-Qaeda like jihadists. Until today, the dreaded Masood Azhar who founded Jaish-e- Mohammed is kept safe by the Pakistanis.

Our current NSA, Ajit Doval, was one of the four negotiators sent to Kandahar to talk to the terrorists through the Taliban regime. Mr Doval maintained that Taliban & ISI were involved in the terrorists’ release and had the aircraft not been allowed to fly out of India, we may still have had a chance for military intervention. NSA Doval’s tough and uncompromising stand on India’s internal security and safety in present times, can perhaps be viewed from this backdrop.

Hegde was an ardent believer in the Sardar Patel brand of politics. In fact, in his many writings he has said and I quote, “ Sardar Patel was a great captain of India’s destiny, a figure cast in marble, like Hercules of the Greek sculptures.” Hegde spoke of Sardar Patel’s ardent patriotism, courage, sagacity, robust intellect and consummate skills that made him one of the world’s greatest statesmen. With his deep insight into history, Hegde maintained that when India gained Independence and was beset with insurmountable problems, when the communal Frankenstein extracted a heavy toll of life and property, it was Sardar Patel’s act of integration of Indian States that ensured that we remained unified to this day. Not only did he integrate 562 princely states and redraw the map of India with remarkable speed, he dealt a heavy blow to fissiparous and subversive forces.

Of immense concern to Sardar Patel was the accession of Kashmir into the Indian Union. While the Hindu Maharaja, Hari Singh was dithering, Kashmir was attacked by raiders let loose by Pakistan. Sardar Patel was then called for help. Swiftly, he agreed to intervene and send in the military to help Hari Singh, only after the ‘Instrument of Accession’ into the Indian Union was signed on 26th October 1947. Ramakrishna Hegde said, and I quote, “ The Sardar was firmly of the view that military action should be completed, and the so-called raiders driven out of Gilgit Baltistan and Azad Kashmir area. Sardar Patel was also of the view that Kashmir should not be accorded a special status under article 370 of the Indian Constitution since Kashmir acceded to India and a popular government under Sheikh Abdullah was installed. Perhaps, the Kashmir problem would not have existed had this advice been heeded to.”

The many cacophonic voices we have heard after the President’s nullification of Article 35A makes me believe that PM Narendra Modi would have had a friend and confidant in late Ramakrishna Hegde. Both firmly believed that without Sardar Patel, Gandhiji’s idea would have had “less practical influence and Nehru’s idealism less scope.” It was Patel who was the architect of India and who should have been the rightful occupant of the Prime Minister’s chair.

Hegde expressed then what Modi & Shah say now. Tough men take tough decisions and history will decide the impact and course of these decisions. Maybe the future will see that welfare, safety, access to government schemes and the all-round development of the people of J& K, who until now have lived on crumbs thrown by the existing regimes, was at the core of this complete integration of the state with the Indian Union. Time will hopefully heal wounds and help the understanding that this ‘historical wrong’ had to be corrected.

Ramakrishna Hegde will always remain in my memory as a rare man of clear vision, strong convictions, integrity, courage, but one who was at heart kind, gentle and sentimental. He served his country faithfully and with integrity, without ever sacrificing his loyalty to those whom he considered friends or falling victim to ‘party politics’.

(Padma Shri awardee Prathibha Prahlad is a renowned artiste and choreographer. She was a long-term companion of Ramakrishna Hegde and remembers him on his 93rd birth anniversary)