A debate between two seasoned Congressmen has been ignited by a recent opinion piece about Jawaharlal Nehru’s participation in Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India authored by Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju.
On one side is former Union minister Karan Singh, who responded to Rijiju’s accusations against his father, late Maharaja Hari Singh, and his involvement in the signing of the Instrument of Accession in a newspaper editorial piece.
Jairam Ramesh, the communications-tasked general secretary of the Congress, is on the other side and feels that Karan Singh failed to defend Nehru. This is what transpired.
All princely nations, including J&K, had the option of annexing either Pakistan or India. Maharaja Hari Singh first made the decision to maintain his independence and sign standstill agreements with both India and Pakistan.
But when Pakistani tribesmen and soldiers arrived, Khan turned to India for assistance, and India in turn requested that the state join the Dominion of India.
Okay, so how did Karan Singh respond to the story by Rijiju?
In response to Rijiju’s assertions, Singh published a piece in The Hindustan Times. He stated that, contrary to Rijiju’s assertion, he was unaware of his father’s readiness to join India prior to Independence. He also suggested that Ram Lal Batra, the deputy prime minister of Jammu and Kashmir at the time, “may have” been.
Veteran Congressman Karan Singh retaliated against Jairam Ramesh on Friday after the latter criticised his previous piece on Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India, calling the “unpleasant statements” about his father “inappropriate.”
In a statement, Singh expressed his wish that his opinions would be regarded seriously and not be the target of “snide insults.”
Ramesh had criticised Singh on Thursday for “sidestepping” a “hit job” on Jawaharlal Nehru’s involvement in the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to India by Union minister Kiren Rijuju.
Ramesh said that he had backed his father and the country’s former ruler in an article by Singh on Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India that appeared in an English daily.
