Contents

1. Partition of Bengal

PART I

2. World War I, Mahatma Gandhi and Non- Cooperation Movement

3. Khilafat Movement and Malabar Killings

4. The Aligarh School

5. Jinnah and Muhammad Iqbal

6. The 1937 Elections and World War II

7. The Pakistan Resolution and the Rahmat Ali Plan

8. CPI and the Gangadhar Adhikari Report

9. Ambedkar: The Army Question

10. Ambedkar: The Communal and Political Question

11. 1945–1946 Elections

12. Direct Action Day 1.0 and the Noakhali Riots

13. The Mountbatten Plan and the Indian Independence Act

14. Partition and its Aftermath

15. Minorityism in Independent India

16. The Liaquat–Nehru Pact

17. The Citizenship Act, 1955

PART II

18. A Brief History of Kashmir

19. 1931: The Beginning of Kashmir’s Islamisation

20. Maharaja and Partition

21. The Poonch–Mirpur Battles

22. Desertion and Treachery in the Jammu and Kashmir Army

23. Raid on the Valley

24. Sheikh Abdullah, the New Shah Mir

25. The Fall of Gilgit

26. Article 370 (Draft 306A) in the Indian Constitution

27. The Jammu and Kashmir Constituent Assembly

28. The Presidential Order, 1954 and Article 35A

29. Constitutional Challenges

30. The Presidential Order, 1965

31. Pakistan, Sheikh Abdullah and the Family

32. Political Chicanery and the Beginning of the Kashmir Jihad

33. End of Afghan War and the 7th Exodus of the Pandits

34. Stalemate

PART III

35. Nullification of Article 370

36. Impact of Nullification of Article 370 on Pakistan

37. CAA: Modification of the Liaquat–Nehru Pact

38. Direct Action Day 2.0: Failure and Impact

39. Fatal Blow to Pakistan’s New Medina

40. Sufism: Myth and Reality

PART IV

41. Postscript 1: Street Riots and Mayhem in Delhi

42. Postscript 2: Way Forward in Jammu and Kashmir

EPILOGUE

43. One Nation Theory and ‘The 2nd Republic

APPENDICES

1. THE CITIZENSHIP (AMENDMENT) ACT, 2019

2. RESULT OF 1937 ELECTIONS

3. RESULT OF 1945–46 ELECTIONS

4. INSTRUMENT OF ACCESSION BY STATE OF JAMMU AND KASHMIR

5. OBJECTIVES RESOLUTION OF PAKISTAN

6. JOGENDRA NATH MANDAL’S RESIGNATION LETTER

7. LIAQUAT–NEHRU AGREEMENT

8. CONSTITUENT ASSEMBLY DEBATE ON ARTICLE 306A (ARTICLE 370) ON 17.10.1949

9. THE CONSTITUTION (APPLICATION TO JAMMU AND KASHMIR) ORDER, 1954

10. JAMMU AND KASHMIR REORGANISATION ACT, 2019

Foreword

The book covers an eventful century of India’s tryst with Islam from the Khilafat Movement to Shaheen Bagh. It provides clarity and sharp insight into the complex gameboard with multiple players at various points in time, and how the game changed from one period to the next. Certain threads run consistently throughout this century- long game: British agendas masked behind their cunning style; Nehruvian naivete and outright moronic behavior; and remarkable commitment and consistent hypocrisy of Muslim leaders.

There are numerous controversial details, but the author can present them with courage because he uses well- documented evidence. For instance, the treachery of Muslims in the Jammu and Kashmir army battalions in 1947 is not an isolated incident. The author shows history repeating itself because Indians have failed to learn about the under-handed ways and brutality of their fellow Indians. He argues that a deep collusion has existed between some Muslims serving the Indian side and the pan-Islam forces outside India.

The dirty role of Sheikh Abdullah comes out clearly as he vacillates opportunistically to maximize his own power at all costs; he is appropriately described by the author as the “wily forked-tongue politician”. The book is an excellent reference for intellectuals and activists who wish to understand the historical origins of Jihad in Kashmir and the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. The prior history of Kashmir’s gradual Islamization over the centuries provides a useful backdrop.

Dr B.R. Ambedkar’s patriotism and audacity comes out loud and clear. He called the Muslim leaders’ behavior the “gangster’s method of politics”. He chided his own Congress party for its failure to understand the difference between appeasement (which they always succumbed to) and a genuine settlement of a dispute (which they failed to achieve). Mohandas Gandhi’s blunders and blind spots are taken apart point by point. It is clear that Gandhi misunderstood the meaning of Ahimsa. He assumed it meant unilateral surrender. Gandhi did not learn the basic lessons from the Mahabharata where Sri Krishna’s message is clear on when, why and how violence must be used.

The sly hand of Lord Mountbatten is undeniable. Yet, Nehru relied on him and lived in awe of Mountbatten and his wife. The author makes good use of the archives to capture some of the moronic moments of Nehru that cost India heavily and irreversibly in many ways.

Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir played his cards hoping to secure for himself a position of power, which he failed to achieve, but in the process ended up sacrificing the safety of his own people. His son, the present Dr. Karan Singh, too has failed to perform a responsible role within India and on the world stage to help the cause of his Kashmiri people.

Thoroughly researched and referenced, the book goes into minute details to explain the foolishness, deceit, blackmail and pressure tactics that led to Article 370. It then explains the logic of removing 370—both the legal due process as well as its ethical and political merits. The book should be used as source material for its historical treatment of the recent controversies concerning CAA. “Article 370 kept the wet dream of separatism alive,” the author notes. Its removal will likely end the dream of cultural identity separation of Kashmiris, which was always a fig-leaf for Islamization. But might it escalate the separatism of religious identity to a new level out of desperation?

Negotiating with Pakistan as a route to a solution has been an utterly misguided pursuit by the Indian government in the past. For, if India were to succeed in unifying Muslims and non-Muslims, it would void the two-nation theory and hence undermine the very existence of Pakistan. It has been Pakistan’s deepest and highest priority obsession to find ways that compromise India’s relationship with its Muslim citizens. Nothing short of India’s breakup will suffice as a permanent solution, and Pakistan’s own nation- building project will remain an unfinished project until this is accomplished.

The Indian government’s inconsistencies in dealing with these issues come out loud and clear. India’s age-old tradition called purva-paksha calls for rigorous, analytical deconstruction of opponents with clarity and objectivity. But India’s policymakers failed to do this and took the easy roads to quick-fixes. Hence the zigzag approach that has been short-sighted and costly.

I find the book written in a gripping style such that its minute details do not become boring. I am glad the author took the honest and courageous road and did not compromise for the sake of political correctness. I am especially glad to see no use of emotions to make any point and relying only on facts explicitly backed up with references.