GLIMPSES
DAG HAMMARSKJOELD
Secretary General of the United Nations
"Kashmir has conquered our hearts and you, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed, have contributed most to this conquest".
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru
Prime Minister of India
"Situations throw up a man to deal with them and the great Prime Minister of Kashmir, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed is a person who has undoubtedly shown quite remarkable qualities of organisation and leadership."
Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah
Prime
Minister of Kashmir
"Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed is a man of great qualities and virtues. For a long time he has been my comrade and under my leadership has given proof of great qualities. He has performed wonderful deeds in the course of the freedom struggle .... the deeds have been so glorious that I cannot forget them even today".
(Comment on Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed's arrest in September 1964 about their relationship prior to 1953)
Mufti Mohammed Sayeed
Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir
"Bakshi Saheb distinguished himself with his political consistency and unshakeable faith in nationalism. Because of the assistance he provided to the poor he was also called Ghulam Mohammed 'Gandhi'. He truly deserved that title".
"Manchester Guardian" London
"The relations between Bakshi Ghulam
Mohammed, Prime Minister of Kashmir and his people are
unique in India. The people's familiarity is such that it
can at times be embarrassing, indeed even dangerous.
There are no policemen, no bamboo enclosure, everyone can,
like the beggar woman or the madman, cram nearer the
platform, can indeed climb into it, as many do.
Perhaps the most striking feature of Bakshi Ghulam
Mohammed's relations with his people is even more than his
insistence on complete mixing, on having no guards, on
allowing every village Tom, Dick and Harry to come and
slap him on the back, on letting every woman pull his
sleeve in her anxiety to present her petition.
Touring with the Premier of Kashmir requires a sturdy
constitution and all round athletics, from knowing how to
ride, swim and climb to the art of elbowing one's way out
from an over-enthusiastic concourse of friendly and
overpoweringly persistent welcomers.
His people think nothing of making him walk 5 additional
miles because they want him to see something that is not
on his programme. And Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed has to go,
despite an old fractured leg ; his people will not take
'NO' for an answer. When one remembers that the Prime
Minister of Kashmir tours his parish 3 days a week, for 17
hours a day, one will agree with the little boy who, after
just an afternoon with Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed concluded
"it is terrible to be Prime Minister".
"The Sunday
Times" London
Special
Correspondent
"A four days tour of the Kashmir Valley
in company with the Prime Minister, Mr. Ghulam Mohammed
Bakshi, brought home to me the notable change since I last
visited Kashmir two years ago.
The Prime Minister moved unescorted among crowds who
garlanded him, and peasants showered lumps of sugar,
signifying a sweet welcome, on his car while everywhere
there were shouts of "long live" and women sang "our
bread-winner has come".
P.R Deshmukh
Union Minister for Agriculture and Forests
"It is the practical statesmanship and the dynamic personality of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed which alone could bring to an end the system of compulsory procurement or mujwaza, which had crippled the kashmiri peasant for decades. In Mr. Bakshi's regime the Kashmiri peasant could for the first time keep his rice for his own consumption. It is but natural that this far-sighted policy followed by quick implementation has given to the kashmiri peasantry the contentment and pride in ownership and is mainly responsible for the transformation which struck us all".
Thakur Raghunath Singh
Leader Parliamentary Delegation
"The achievements are a tribute to the
able leadership of Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed who enjoys great
confidence amongst his people and who is giving full
devotion to the progress and stability of the State. What
we have seen at various places in Jammu and Kashmir
provinces provides irrefutable evidence of the fact that
under his leadership the people have made secularism the
basis of concepts and practice of their lives".
Kamalapati Tripathi
"I had known Bakshiji intimately and had
seen him put his heart and soul into various projects for
the people of Kashmir, who he loved immensely. His ideas
and his sense of patriotism is something that I would like
the youth of the country to emulate.
I.... pay homage to a great leader of our times".
A REQUEST
Anyone wishing contribute photographs, correspondence, anecdotes or any other experience they feel should be included may kindly contact Dr. Bakshi Jehangir via e-mail (bakshijehangir@gmail.com) or at the address given below:
'Al Anqa',
370 BBC, Shivpora
Ram Munshi Bagh
Srinagar, Kashmir
INDIA 19004
All material submitted will remain the property of the submitter
and will
be returned on request.
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