Jawaharlal Nehru

Did Nehru Reject J&K King's Offer To Join India? Karan Singh, Jairam, Rijiju fight it out

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Union Minister Kiren Rijiju in a column claimed that Jawaharlal Nehru was responsible for delaying and almost derailing Jammu and Kashmir's accession to India.

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Rijiju claimed that the King of Jammu and Kashmir Maharaja Hari Singh was willing to accede but Nehru was hesitant thus converting J&K into a special case.

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Rijiju referred to a speech by Nehru in Lok Sabha in 1952 to make his point. Probably, he wanted the support of Sheikh Abdullah before taking a call.

Then came a rebuttal from his son and Congress leader Karan Singh.Quoting a letter written by Hari Singh to Mountbatten in October in 1947 he said that there is no proof to establish that Singh had given any formal consent to join India.

It is largely accepted that Hari Singh who ruled over 80 per cent Muslims and 20 per cent Hindus wanted to remain independent.

It is largely established that Hari Singh who ruled over 80 per cent Muslims and 20 per cent Hindus wanted to remain independent.

Hari Singh had to get the support of Indian troops against an invasion by tribal armed men and the Pakistan Army into his state.

Karan Singh also defends his father's role as the Maharaja of Kashmir and how bravely his army defended the border against Pakistani military aggression.

He expresses with deep sadness that his father was exiled from Kashmir after its accession to India.

In 1946, Sheikh Abdullah, Nehru's close friend and who became the PM of Kashmir in 1948 had launched the Quit Kashmir agitation against the Maharaja Hari Singh

Jairam Ramesh has taken offense to Karan Singh's article in Hindustan Times saying that he defended his father but did not defend Nehru and oppose Rijiju's "hit job" against Nehru

Ramesh claimed that no historical work has ever shown Hari Singh in a good light.  He says without Nehru's support Dr. Karan Singh wouldn’t have achieved much.

To this Karan Singh responded: "Jairam has no business going around bad-mouthing my father. Had it not been for my father, the state would have gone to Pakistan. "