Shashi Tharoor’s Ignorance of “Kashmir Problem”
In response to a reporter’s (false) premise that Jawaharlal Nehru declared “early ceasefire” and handed over Kashmir to United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Shashi Tharoor, who is considered the smartest parliamentarian of Indian National Congress (INC), exposed his ignorance. Instead of pointing out the fact that Nehru executed the Kashmir War for 14 long months before agreeing to a UN brokered bilateral ceasefire, which was far from any “early” ceasefire, Tharoor eagerly endorses the falsehood.
Tharoor, who doesn’t know any better, reiterates the falsification that Nehru declared ceasefire (first) and then approached UN, which was the opposite order in which the two events took place. Further, contrary to Tharoor’s suggestion that approach to UN and ceasefire occurred in quick succession, in reality, they were separated by a full year of raging war. Contrary to Tharoor’s argument, reason for Nehru government agreeing to ceasefire was not the belief that UN will solve the problem but because the war was stalemate.
Congressmen like Tharoor who convinced themselves to be wise and know-it-all despite ignorance, perpetuate misinformation about Nehru, hurting the credibility of their own party. The leadership of INC, either due to its own ignorance or incompetence, allows people like Tharoor who perpetuate anti-Nehru and anti-INC agenda, run their mouths unhinged.
Understand the Chronology
India’s involvement in liberation and defense of Kashmir began on October 26, 1947 when Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession. Peace process always runs in parallel with warfare and requires an identifiable enemy for negotiations. With Pakistan denying arming and enabling the “Raiders” who invaded Kashmir, Nehru government required outside help to engage Pakistan. This was no different from Indian government seeking help of UN in aftermath of Pulwama Incident in 2019.
Hence, after 2-months of war when warfare slowed down temporarily due to winter (snowfall), Nehru government approached UN in December 1947. However, contrary to widespread belief which was also echoed by Tharoor, war did not stop while the matter was discussed at the UN. In fact, the war continued long after discussions at UN and resolution was passed April 1948.
In a letter to Maharaja Hari Singh on 23 December 1947 informing him of Indian government’s decision to refer the matter to UN, Nehru wrote that the military operations will not only continue but will be carried out more vigorously. Indeed the war raged on through the entire year of 1948, until bilateral ceasefire was signed on 1 January 1949, after a total of 14-month war.
Tharoor Patronizes and Betrays Nehru
Tharoor grossly misunderstands Nehru’s character while arguing that Nehru relied on UN instead of battlefield, to establish India’s rights over Kashmir. By validating this fake-history with characterization as “hindsight of history”, Tharoor legitimizes the malice that Nehru was a weakling who was afraid of fight and that he naively believed in UN.
Tharoor ignorantly argues that Nehru did not want to fight because of partition violence, destruction of homes, loss of life, migration and displacement of millions of people, retorting, “in middle of all this, do you want a prime minister who will commit your country to prolonged war”? But that was precisely what Nehru did! Despite all the problems India had in 1947 and 1948, Nehru executed the war for 14 months, which is twice longer than all other wars India fought since then put together.
By proclaiming that history should be left to “academics to sort out”, Tharoor is admitting whatever he wrote himself on the subject over the years was not worth paper it was written on. However, as I wrote earlier, our academics too have been incompetent to understand simple chronology and duration of that war even after 77 years, allowing likes of Tharoor spread misinformation.
Is Kashmir An Internal Matter Or An International Matter?
During the debate in Parliament on the bifurcation of the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir in August 2019, Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury asked the government to clarify if Kashmir is an internal issue to be bifurcated unilaterally by India. Chowdhury was ridiculed for his question. Even the Gandhis had frowned upon Chowdhury. Yet when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) repeatedly made exact same claims of Kashmir being internationalized by Nehru and the territory being under control of the UN with Pakistan being a party to dispute, nobody saw anything wrong.
BJP’s Nirmala Sitaraman to Kiran Rijiju continue to blame fictional problems on Nehru and keep Kashmir on the boil. Not a word was ever said by any journalist to debunk any of BJP’s misinformation, but Chowdhury gets chided for his so-called gaffs and for supposedly causing “embarrassment” to Congress. Why shouldn’t BJP be embarrassed by the “gaffs” of Sitaraman and Rijiju?
In Defense of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
It is unclear from the videos if Chowdhury really believed that Kashmir is an international issue. It would not surprise me if Chowdhury genuinely did not understand the Indian government taking liberties in Kashmir and treating it like any other state or union territory. Given BJP’s extensive brainwashing, most Indians believed that narrative while Chowdhury was probably naïve enough to ask that question openly.
However, it is also possible that Chowdhury was calling BJP’s bluff. For decades BJP had claimed that Nehru had committed several blunders and supposedly limited India’s sovereignty over the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir. All that hype was exposed as a hoax when BJP was able to change the status quo with the same ease as the bifurcations of other states in the union such as Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. Instead of seizing on opportunity to expose BJP’s hypocrisy, blaming Chowdhury’s supposed gaffs is just sad.