EK NISHAN EK VIDHAN EK PRADHAN AGITATION OF JAMMU
The slogan Ek Nishan Ek Vidhan Ek Pradhan which translates to One Flag One Constitution One Prime Minister was the most powerful political cry to emerge from Jammu after independence. It was not merely a slogan but a complete ideological rejection of the special constitutional arrangement that Jammu and Kashmir enjoyed within the Indian Union. The agitation that carried this slogan from late 1949 to mid 1953 was the first organised mass movement in Jammu and it laid the foundation for the national debate on Article 370 which continued for almost seven decades until its abrogation in August 2019.
BACKGROUND OF THE SPECIAL STATUS
At the time of accession in October 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh signed the same Instrument of Accession as other princely states. However, political developments soon created a separate framework for Jammu and Kashmir. Under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution, which was originally a temporary provision, the state was allowed to have its own constitution, its own flag and a separate nomenclature for its head of government. The head of government was called Wazir e Azam or Prime Minister and the head of state was called Sadr e Riyasat. The state also had its own penal code, known as the Ranbir Penal Code. Perhaps most offensive to the people of Jammu was the permit system. Any Indian citizen who wanted to enter Jammu and Kashmir had to obtain a permit, as if he was travelling to a foreign country.
In Jammu, this arrangement was seen as a symbol of Kashmiri domination over Jammu and a barrier to full national integration. The National Conference government led by Sheikh Abdullah was viewed in Jammu as an anti Dogra and pro Valley government. Its land reforms, although progressive in intent, had adversely affected Dogra landlords and agriculturists in Jammu without adequate compensation.
BIRTH OF THE JAMMU PRAJA PARISHAD
To channel this discontent, the Jammu and Kashmir Praja Parishad was founded on 17 November 1947 by Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, who was later known as Sher e Duggar.
Pandit Prem Nath Dogra was born in a respectable Brahmin family at village Samailpur near Jammu on October 24 1884. His mother died in his childhood and he was brought up by his maternal grandmother.After village schooling he moved to Lahore where his father Pandit Anant Ram was Administrator of state properties. He studied at Pir Mitha School and Model School and graduated from Foreman Christian College in 1908, excelling in football.He joined state service as Tehsildar Akhnoor in 1909, then Assistant Settlement Officer Udhampur in 1910, Munsif at Jammu in 1912 and Secretary to Governor Kashmir and later Wazir e Wazarat Mirpur in 1913.
In 1931 Pandit Prem Nath Dogra was appointed as Wazir-e-Wazarat at Muzaffarabad, now Deputy Commissioner. This was the year of the Round Table Conference and of major communal turmoil in the princely state following the events of July 1931. While the whole Jammu and Kashmir state was in turmoil, Muzaffarabad remained free from any sort of agitation and people lived cordially.This peace was due to his great administrative skills and efficiency which kept away the communal influence of valley based leaders. Without any lathi and bullet, he saved the town of Muzaffarabad from violence and anarchy. He became very popular among the local subjects, including Muslims, due to his just and principled handling. calculator
Praja Parishad formed by Prem Nath Dogra was ideologically supported and organisationally assisted by Balraj Madhok of the Jan Sangh. According to Madhok, the objective of the party was to achieve full integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India and to oppose what it described as the communist dominated anti Dogra government of Sheikh Abdullah.
Prof Balraj Madhok was a nationalist leader and founder member of Bharatiya Jana Sangh, born on February 25 1920 at Skardu and brought up in Jammu.He studied at Srinagar and DAV College Lahore . He worked closely with Pandit Prem Nath Dogra during Praja Parishad agitation for complete integration of Jammu and Kashmir with India. Along with Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee he founded Jana Sangh in 1951 and served as its President. He was elected MP from New Delhi and remained a strong advocate for national unity, rights of Jammu and Ladakh and abrogation of Article 370.
The Praja Parishad began its first Satyagraha in early 1949. The government response was severe. As many as 294 members of the Parishad were arrested, including Prem Nath Dogra himself. Balraj Madhok was externed from the state. The central government in New Delhi intervened and arranged a temporary truce.
The second flashpoint came during the elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly in 1951. The Parishad contested 28 out of the 30 seats allotted to Jammu. However, the nomination papers of 13 of its candidates were rejected on technical grounds. Believing that the elections were being managed to ensure a one party victory for the National Conference, the Parishad boycotted the polls shortly before voting. As a result, all National Conference candidates were declared winners unopposed from Jammu. Deprived of democratic representation, the Parishad decided to take its struggle to the streets.
THE DELHI AGREEMENT AND THE FINAL TRIGGER
In July 1952, Sheikh Abdullah and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru signed the Delhi Agreement which formalised the autonomous status of Jammu and Kashmir within India. The Agreement allowed the state to retain its own flag alongside the Union flag, to have its own constitution and to keep the title of Prime Minister for its head of government.
This agreement inflamed public opinion in Jammu. The immediate trigger was an incident at the GGM Science College, then known as Gandhi Memorial College, Jammu. On 15 January 1952, students refused to salute the state flag when it was hoisted along with the Indian tricolour and staged a demonstration. The students were fined and some were expelled. On 8 February 1952, a large procession of students and Praja Parishad workers was taken out in Jammu city. The administration called out the military and imposed a seventy two hour curfew. The Union Minister N Gopalaswami Ayyangar arrived to broker peace but his intervention was resented by Sheikh Abdullah.
By November 1952, the Parishad had finalised its strategy. On 14 November 1952, it gave a call for a full fledged agitation with the historic slogan:
Ek Desh Mein Do Vidhan Do Nishan Do Pradhan Nahi Chalenge
THE COURSE OF THE AGITATION
The agitation rapidly spread from Jammu city to the towns of the Jammu region. The main demand was simple and easy for the common man to understand. In one country there cannot be two constitutions, two flags and two prime ministers. The Parishad demanded the complete abrogation of Article 370, the abolition of the permit system, the application of the Indian Constitution in full, the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of India over Jammu and Kashmir and the hoisting of the tricolour as the sole national flag.
The state government responded with large scale arrests, lathi charges and firing. Several incidents became etched in the memory of Jammu.
At Hiranagar on 11 January 1953, police firing killed two persons and injured more than seventy. At Jourian on 30 January 1953, a crowd of nearly three thousand people defied prohibitory orders. Police opened fire, killing six persons and injuring about one hundred and twenty five. At Ramban, Udhampur and Sunderbani, protesters were shot while attempting to hoist the Indian tricolour on government buildings. The first martyr of the movement was considered to be Mela Ram of Chhamb, who was shot while hoisting the national flag at a police station.
Despite repression, the movement intensified. Markets in Jammu observed complete Hartal for weeks. Lawyers boycotted courts. Women took out processions.
JIS KASHMIR KO KHOON SE SEENCHA WOH KASHMIR HAMAARA HA
This powerful slogan was first raised during the historic Praja Parishad agitation of 1952-53 in Jammu. It was coined by Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, Sher-e-Duggar and founder of Jammu Kashmir Praja Parishad. He gave this slogan as the central call for complete integration of Kashmir into the Indian Union. At that time Sheikh Abdullah had demanded a separate constitution, separate flag and separate Prime Minister for Jammu and Kashmir. Against this , Prem Nath Dogra declared that there cannot be two constitutions, two flags and two Prime Ministers in one country, and that Kashmir nurtured with blood is ours .
Prof Balraj Madhok and other Praja Parishad leaders popularised this slogan in every street of Jammu and later at the national level. Surprisingly, this slogan coined with a nationalist and integrationist spirit was later used by every shade of political thought in Kashmir. Even Sheikh Abdullah's Plebiscite Front, which was ideologically opposed to Praja Parishad and was demanding plebiscite, raised it in its rallies. Later, separatist groups also raised it with a twisted interpretation for their own politics. The slogan was raised by exiled Kashmiri Pandits at Jantar Mantar while agitating against terrorism and their own exodus from the Valley. The universal adoption of this slogan proves its emotional power and historical truth, though its original creator and spirit remain nationalist as given by Pandit Prem Nath Dogra.
NATIONAL DIMENSION AND THE ROLE OF DR MOOKERJEE
What had begun as a regional agitation of Jammu soon acquired a national dimension. The Bharatiya Jana Sangh, the Hindu Mahasabha and the Ram Rajya Parishad and the Shiromani Akali Dal extended support to the Praja Parishad. The Akalis launched a morcha because they argued that if Hindus and Sikhs needed a permit to visit Vaishno Devi and other shrines, it was an attack on religious freedom.
The most prominent national leader to associate with the cause was Dr Syama Prasad Mookerjee, founder president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and former Minister for Industry in Nehru's first cabinet. Mookerjee had resigned from the cabinet over the issue of special status to Kashmir and the Nehru-Liaquat Pact. He toured the country mobilising public opinion and famously asked in Parliament, why should an Indian need a permit to visit a part of India.
In May 1953, Mookerjee decided to enter Jammu and Kashmir without a permit to support the satyagrahis and to protest against the permit system. He crossed the Ravi at Lakhanpur on 11 May 1953, defying the permit check post. He was arrested at the border by Jammu and Kashmir police and taken to Srinagar Central Jail. He was detained in a small cottage without adequate medical care. On 23 June 1953, he died in detention under circumstances that have never been fully clarified. His death sent shock waves across the country and turned the Jammu agitation into a national issue.
AFTERMATH AND LEGACY
The agitation was formally called off on 7 July 1953 after an appeal by Prime Minister Nehru and after assurances that some of the grievances would be examined. The immediate political fallout was significant. The relationship between Sheikh Abdullah and New Delhi, which had already been strained due to Abdullah's statements about independence and his contacts with foreign diplomats, deteriorated completely. Sheikh Abdullah was dismissed and arrested on 8 August 1953 and Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad became the new Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir.
Several concrete concessions followed the agitation. The permit system for entry into Jammu and Kashmir was abolished in 1954. The jurisdiction of the Supreme Court was extended. The provision for financial integration was strengthened. The titles were not changed immediately but after 1965, under the Sixth Amendment to the Jammu and Kashmir Constitution, the Wazir e Azam was redesignated as Chief Minister and Sadr e Riyasat as Governor.
In the long term, the Ek Nishan Ek Vidhan Ek Pradhan agitation created the ideological bedrock for the demand to abrogate Article 370. For the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and later the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Praja Parishad struggle and the martyrdom of Mookerjee and the Dogra satyagrahis became a foundational narrative. Every year, Jammu observes 23 June as Balidan Diwas in memory of Mookerjee.
When the Government of India finally abrogated Article 370 and Article 35A on 5 August 2019, reorganised the state into two Union Territories and extended the Constitution of India in full to Jammu and Kashmir, with one flag and one constitution for the entire country, the central government described it as the fulfilment of the dream of Syama Prasad Mookerjee and Prem Nath Dogra.
For the people of Jammu, therefore, the agitation is not just history. It is remembered as the movement that asserted the Dogra identity, that questioned the concept of dual citizenship within a single nation and that kept alive the idea of complete constitutional integration for more than six decades.
( Avtar Mota )
Based on a work at http:\\autarmota.blogspot.com\.
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