Since childhood, we have been reading that King Hari Singh of Kashmir was not able to decide whether to join India, Pakistan or remain independent. In such a situation, Pakistan Army along with the tribals attacked them. Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru clearly said that unless you sign the Instrument of Accession, the army will not come to help. The king was forced to sign the merger letter on 26 October. Only then did Delhi send its army and it took back control over two-thirds of Kashmir. Later, when Nehru went to the UN, there was a ceasefire and one third of Kashmir remained under the control of Pakistan. Now where did RSS i.e. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh come into this whole story? Below is his answer.
There were two big reasons why Raja Hari Singh was in trouble. Earlier, his Rajguru Swami Sant Dev had advocated for leaving India and Pakistan and creating a separate ‘Dogaristan’. He was not happy with the close relationship between Pandit Nehru and Sheikh Abdullah. Nehru and Raja Hari Singh did not have good relations. In such a situation, Sardar Patel asked Mehar Chand Mahajan to persuade Raja Hari Singh to agree to the merger of India. Mehar Chand Mahajan later became the third Chief Justice of India, but at that time he was appointed Prime Minister of the King of Kashmir. Even though the members of the Radcliffe Commission, which carried out partition at the time of independence, were nominated by the Congress, they were considered supporters of the Union.
After discussing with Patel, Mehar Chand Mahajan contacted Guru Golwalkar and told him that Raja Hari Singh can agree to his request. The matter was serious, Guru Golwalkar did not want to shy away from the responsibility. He immediately canceled all his upcoming programs. Volume 4 of ‘Shri Guruji Samagra Darshan’ (Suruchi Prakashan) gives information that on October 17, Guru Golwalkar did not go to Srinagar alone, but some preachers/officials Madhavrao Mule, Abhaji Thate, Vasant Rao Oak and Barrister Narendrajit Singh were also with him. He met Raja Hari Singh on the morning of 18th.
What did Raja Hari Singh say about the Sangh?
Guru Golwalkar explained some things in detail to Raja Hari Singh, you also know about the Muslim soldiers of your army that they can join hands with Pakistan at any time. So they cannot be trusted completely. Pakistanis will never allow Kashmir to remain an independent state for long. You are a Hindu king, for India’s culture, unity and the dream of a united India, there is nothing better than Kashmir for India. If you meet with Pakistan, it will cause huge trouble for the Hindu people here. Hari Singh was already very happy with the Sangh volunteers, he was only angry with Nehru, but Guruji assured that Sardar Patel would take care of the interests of Kashmir.
Information is available in ‘Shriguruji’ written by CP Bhishikar that on this occasion, Raja Hari Singh had praised the volunteers of the Sangh by saying, “Initially we did not believe in the important information that we received from them from time to time. But later we felt that every information coming from the Sangh is completely trustworthy. It is indeed a matter of great courage to extract information about Pakistani soldiers at such a risk.” It’s praise worthy.”
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Guruji met him and went to DAV College, Srinagar. There he met the Sangh volunteers and learned about their problems. Gave him some instructions, gave him courage and took information about the valley from him. After that Guru Golwalkar came to Delhi and informed Sardar Patel in detail about his meeting with Raja Hari Singh. Told that he has no problem in meeting with India. Also informed about their concerns. While giving information about this meeting in his autobiography ‘Looking Back’, Mehar Chand Mahajan has said that due to this meeting, it helped a lot in turning Raja Hari Singh’s attitude towards merger and in the event of not having good relations with Nehru, Raja had got an undisclosed guarantee from the Sangh and Patel.
But the RSS did not end the Kashmir issue just by holding this meeting. The role of Sangh workers was also important during the attacks by tribals and Pakistani army. What he did for Kashmir and Kashmiris after the war is not discussed much.
Before the tribal attack, Sangh volunteers had increased surveillance in the villages around the Kashmir border. Due to that, the work of conveying the information that was coming to the king started. Sangh volunteers from Jammu and rural areas (RS Pura, Akhnoor etc.) found that arms were being smuggled into the valley from Pakistan via Sialkot. Weapons are being brought hidden under fruit crates in trucks. At that time, Sangh volunteers and Jammu Kashmir Praja Parishad founders Balraj Madhok and Premnath Dogra together gave ‘ground intelligence’ to Raja Hari Singh and Mehar Chand Mahajan. The Sangh trained more than 500 youth in its branches in Jammu to use sticks etc., later these boys got appointments on posts in the state army or home guards etc.
This unsung hero of RSS saved 1187 lives
On October 22, when the tribals attacked, 42 volunteers from Srinagar under the leadership of Shri Krishna Kaul of the Sangh reached Baramulla and evacuated about 1200 Hindu-Sikhs from there in trucks and took them to Srinagar airfield. Even today, that register is kept in the Jammu office of the Sangh, where the shakha pracharak Shri Krishna Kaul himself had recorded the complete information. He had written on 25 October 1947 that, “Under my leadership, 42 volunteers evacuated 1187 Hindus and Sikhs from Baramulla in 6 trucks and 2 buses to Srinagar. They reached Safakadal on the night of 24th. 3 volunteers were also injured due to firing near Patan.”
In ‘Smriti Granth-Kashmir Crisis 1947’, Prof. Kaul’s statement recorded by Balraj is also available, those people were rescued when the tribals had entered Baramulla and were committing looting, ““On 22nd night, news came that raiders had entered Baramulla. I gathered 42 trained swayamsevaks from Srinagar shakha. We left at 4 AM on 23rd in two groups. One group commandeered trucks from Badami Bagh depot. We reached Baramulla by 7 AM. Raiders were looting the market. We moved door-to-door in Hindu mohallas (Tankipora, Guru Bazaar). Loaded 1,187 people — mostly women, children, elderly — into 6 trucks and 2 buses. Returned via Pattan–Srinagar road under gunfire. Reached Srinagar airfield by midnight 24th.
Brigadier LP Sen, who was posted in the valley at that time, has also mentioned these brave men of the Sangh in his book ‘Sledder was the thread’ in this way, “On 25th October, I saw hundreds of refugees at the airfield — women and children mostly — brought in by a group of RSS boys in khaki shorts. Their leader, a tall Kashmiri Pandit, said they had come from Baramulla the previous night.” The story of many unsung heroes like Shri Krishna Kaul never came to light.
Sangh’s role in saving Srinagar and airport
Srinagar is not very far from Baramulla, so Sangh volunteers started making defense pickets to prevent the tribals from entering Srinagar city till the arrival of Indian forces. These pickets were also watch towers in a way, because not only was there a fear of attackers from outside, some people from inside could also join them, hence the city also had to be kept an eye on, hence areas like Amira Kadal, the bridge built on Jhelum connecting the city, hill fort Hari Parvat, Maharaj Ganj area of ​​down town Srinagar were selected for this. Some such weapons or indigenous devices were also kept here so that the attackers could be deterred till the army arrived.
When the first Dakota flight landed on the morning of 27 October under the leadership of Dewan Ranjit Rai, a group of Sangh volunteers was already deployed to assist Brigadier LP Sen posted at the airfield, who not only removed all the snow from the air strip but also helped in the safe landing of the Dakota flight. The task of a Sangh team along with armed squads was to safely evacuate Hindu Sikhs in trucks and buses and they successfully evacuated thousands of such people from Poonch, Rajouri, Jammu Cantt, and Mirpur. The Sangh units of RSpura and Samba systematically fought the attackers and did not allow them to enter there.
union national security team
This was the name given to the group of volunteers who were continuously providing secret information about the attackers to the king, or to the local army officers, and were also helping them in their work. In such a situation, India’s first posthumous Mahavir Chakra winner Brigadier Rajendra Singh, who was posted in the army of Raja Hari Singh, with the help of Sangh volunteers, held off the attackers in Uri and surrounding areas for 4 days, on the fourth day he was martyred.
Sangh’s service work, help to 1.5 lakh refugees
Between 1947 and 1949, the Sangh set up 12 camps in Jammu for the victims of partition and refugees from Kashmir. About 1.5 lakh refugees benefited from these camps. Blankets, medicines, food etc. were provided to them by Sangh volunteers. When cholera spread in the camp, Dr. Madan Lal Bhasin, associated with the Sangh, started a mobile dispensary. In Jammu itself, women volunteers of Rashtra Sevika Samiti started providing shelter in camps to those Hindu-Sikh women who were rescued from the captivity of the attackers. In these camps, the Sangh also started Saraswati Shishu Mandir and about 5000 children were enrolled in them.
Sardar Patel’s letter to Guru Golwalkar
In such a situation, Sardar Patel writing in a letter to Guru Golwalkar that, “”The people of India have come to realize the true nature of the RSS and its activities… In particular, the work done by the RSS in connection with the Kashmir operations and in the Punjab and Bengal has shown that it is a well-organized and disciplined body capable of rendering great service to the country.” It is like recognizing the hard work of the Sangh volunteers. This letter is mentioned in Sardar Patel’s Correspondence. Found in 1945–50, Vol.
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