Indian Historian Busts Myths About Kashmir

Brut India

“Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the architect of Article 370.” Srinath Raghavan’s account of Kashmir’s history may surprise many Indians. The noted historian was speaking at a lecture organised by Manthan.

Transcript

00:00It is worth pointing out that contrary to what is being claimed today, Sardar Patel

00:08was actually the architect of Article 370.

00:37So once the partition plan is announced, the issue of the princely states really comes

00:41to the fore and there is a huge amount of time pressure because this issue has to be

00:45dealt with before 15th of August 1947.

00:48And this is what the Government of India really had to deal with.

00:51And the person who came up with a very simple and straightforward solution to this problem

00:56was the Secretary to the Ministry of States, a man called V.P.

01:00Menon, who worked for the Minister of States, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

01:03So Menon basically said that drawing on a provision in the Government of India Act of

01:071935, we could just ask all states to accede to the Union of India on just three subjects,

01:15foreign affairs, defence and communication.

01:18Now it was on this basis that the accession of most of the states happened before 15th

01:23of August 1947.

01:25It is worth pointing out that contrary to what is being claimed today, Sardar Patel

01:29was actually the architect of Article 370.

01:33Contrary to all these claims about saying, oh, if Vallabhbhai Patel had been dealing

01:36with Kashmir, the entire state would have been ours, he was actually at this point of

01:39time prepared to trade off Kashmir for Hyderabad.

01:42And rightly so.

01:43Hyderabad is, as you all know, is quietly in the middle of heart of India.

01:47And that was to him the most important issue to be dealt with, not Kashmir.

01:51And in fact, this is not a secret.

01:53On 11th of November 1947, when the Indian Army moved into Junagadh, Vallabhbhai Patel

01:59went and made a public speech where he mentions the same point.

02:02And you can all go and read that speech.

02:04It's available in his collected speeches.

02:06He says, we told the Pakistanis that if you can give us Hyderabad, we are willing to give

02:11you Kashmir.

02:12Right?

02:13Article 370 was only about extending other provisions of the Indian constitution to the

02:17state of J&K.

02:18How could the same article be used to change the constitution of that state itself?

02:23Now what this would mean is that if a provision of the Indian constitution was being extended,

02:28the Constituent Assembly of Kashmir had to finally accept it and embody it in the state's

02:33constitution.

02:34Only then the two constitutions could comport with each other.

02:36Right?

02:37Now what this also meant is that once the Constituent Assembly of the J&K state met,

02:43framed the state's constitution and dissolved and proclaimed that constitution, no further

02:48provisions of the Indian constitution could be extended to the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

02:52Now it is in this way that an ironclad guarantee was given, or what people assumed ironclad

02:58guarantees back then, about the special status of Jammu and Kashmir.

03:03That is how autonomy was given.

03:04What the current attempt and attempts in the past are really about is to say that we need

03:12a nation state which is not just united in the sense of being one unified entity, but

03:18it's also homogenous.

03:19Now that cuts against the fundamental vision of the Indian constitution which has always

03:24catered for lots of asymmetries.

03:26Right?

03:27If you also get excited about Article 370, please go and read Article 371, which makes

03:31similar kinds of asymmetric provisions for a number of other states.

03:34Another argument that is being advanced, and this is what I began with, is that Article

03:38370 somehow led to separatism and insurgency.

03:42You know, actually it's totally the other way around.

03:44It is the diminution, dilution, destruction of Article 370 which paved the way for the

03:48insurgency to happen.

03:50If investment is to happen in Kashmir, you need peace, security and stability to come

03:55in the first place.

03:57If you are not going to have peace, security and stability, believe me, Indian capital

04:01is not going to go to Kashmir.

04:04You know, capitalism can do many things, but nationalism cannot balance out your books.

04:09So, let me just finish by saying that Kashmir is at a very crucial juncture in its history.

04:14And at this point of time, I think it is important for us to understand its real history rather

04:19than swallowing myths, facile arguments and propaganda.

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