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An Insider's First Hand Account !
The birth of this book itself starts with a mystery when one day the author Radha Rajan receives an anonymous post containing the private notes of Pandit Ramchandra Kak, ex-Prime Minister to Maharaja Hari Singhji of the princely state of Jammu & Kashmir. This book assumes a greater significance given the fact that the only other copy of the original notes are in a museum in London and no where else in India.
Pandit Ramchandra Kak’s name has been tactfully hidden from the popular discourses of the tumultuous years of J&K-India. But he played a crucial and decisive role in state affairs (both internal & external) and checking the menace that was Sheikh Abdullah & his Muslim/National conference.
Pandit Kak being the PM to the Maharaja had a direct say on the decision of accession too. And THIS MISSING LINK is the CRUX of this book where Pandit Kak narrates an INSIDER ACCOUNT of how things unfolded one after the other in J&K; most importantly the prevailing conditions in 1946 till accession in 1947. It finally puts to rest the question, why Maharaja Hari Singh & PM Pandit Kak decided to NOT accede to Pakistan and they COULD’T accede to India either.
The book starts with an analysis on the notes of RCK by categorizing the notes in sections to answer many popular questions on the J&K dilemma.
This is followed with an interesting analysis of ‘The Devil’ i.e. article 370 & 35A. The analysis on how this article can and can’t be scrapped, it’s entanglements with the Constitution leading to a guarantee of it existence, is simply mind blowing! This particular section of the book is WORTH RE-READING.
The book ends with a clear photocopy of the original text of Pandit Kak’s notes. There is a brief on the personalities of Abdullah and the Maharaja; the epilogue of the notes shows the clarity of mind of RCK and the person that he was when he predicted the future of the country he had left behind.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
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November 23, 2021
