BIOGRAPHY
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed ruled the State of Jammu and Kashmir as Prime Minister for eleven years from 1953 to 1964. His personal style was a combination of excellent administrative skills, exemplary courage, and robust commonsense. Jammu and Kashmir made tremendous all-round progress under his leadership.
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed was born in 1907 and was educated at C.M.S Tyndale Biscoe School. He started his career as a school teacher in far flung areas of Jammu and Kashmir like Skardu and Leh and later served in the Kashmir branch of the All India Spinners' Association. In 1927 he joined Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in the agitation for securing civic and political rights for the State's Muslim population, which was suffering under the autocratic rule of the Dogra rulers, culminating in the formation of the Muslim Conference in 1930.
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed
displayed a great talent for organization and capacity for sustained
hard work during the years of struggle. He organised students and
workers, set up their unions and went to jail several times during
the freedom struggle - including a torturous sixteen-month term in Reasi
sub-Jail. For his bravery and organisational prowess he earned the
sobriquet "Khalid-e-Kashmir" after Khalid-bin-Walid,
the great Muslim general.
By 1938, people of all
communities had joined the demand for responsible government, which had
spread all over the State and the Muslim Conference's name was altered
to National Conference. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed worked underground
during this period, keeping a step ahead of the State Police. In 1946,
during the "Quit Kashmir" movement, he escaped to
British India when a warrant was issued for his arrest. He visited many
places mobilizing public opinion in favour of the Kashmir agitation.
After Mahatma Gandhi's visit to Kashmir the warrant against him was
withdrawn and he returned home after seventeen months exile.
In October 1947, Sheikh
Mohammed Abdullah was released from prison and made Prime Minister.
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed became Deputy Prime Minister and was entrusted
with the Home portfolio. In 1948 during the Sheikh's absence
from the State to represent India's case at the UN, Bakshi Ghulam
Mohammed took over as the Chief Administrator. In August 1953, Sheikh
Mohammed Abdullah was dismissed and arrested, and Bakshi Ghulam
Mohammed became Prime Minister of the State and also President of the
National Conference by majority vote of the State Cabinet.
Bakshi
Ghulam Mohammed proved to be a great administrator and is remembered as the
"Architect of Modern Kashmir"
because of his constructive work in the State. He had a unique
knack of establishing a direct rapport with people at grass-root level
which gained tremendous popularity among people of all regions. Bakshi
Ghulam Mohammed set Kashmir on the road to progress, gave a
practical shape to the ideal of "Naya Kashmir", and earned enormous
fame and goodwill in and outside Kashmir.
On the political front, Bakshi
Ghulam Mohammed had to face a stiff challenge from the Plebiscite Front
which was formed in 1955 but he remained in the saddle with a tight
grip over the state machinery. In May
1963 the Congress lost three important Parliamentary by-elections,
including a "prestige" contest in which a Union Minister was defeated.
Perturbed at the reverses, the AICC, under the Kamaraj plan, decided
that some Congress Union Ministers and State Chief Ministers should
resign and give all their time to party work. The final selection was
left to Jawahar Lal Nehru. After eleven continuous years of Prime
Ministership, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed was persuaded to offer just a
token resignation in order to strengthen Nehru's hand even though he
did not belong to the Congress party. In a move that typifies the
strange relationship between Kashmir and New Delhi, his resignation was
accepted along with those of five State Chief Ministers and six Union
Ministers.
The eleven
years of the Bakshi's Premiership have been the longest
continuous stint by any Prime Minister or Chief Minister and
are generally acknowledged as the Golden
Period of the State's
post-independence history. Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed had
steadfastly resisted any attempt to undermine Jammu and Kashmir's
special status within the Union of India and was the last leader to
hold the title of "Prime
Minister" of Kashmir.
In 1964 Bakshi Ghulam
Mohammed headed the opposition to the Government of
Chief Minister Ghulam Mohammed Sadiq. In the late summer of the same
year the majority of the legislators compelled him to move a vote of
no-confidence against the Government but he was arrested and
detained under the Defence of India Rules despite the support of the
majority of MLA's in the State
Assembly which was prorogued by the Governor.
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed was released on health grounds in December 1964. In June 1965 he made an announcement that he had decided to retire from politics. His popularity, however, remained undiminished and in 1967 he was elected to the Lok Sabha on a National Conference ticket defeating the ruling Congress nominee by a big margin. He remained a member of the Lok Sabha till 1971.
Bakshi Ghulam Mohammed passed away in July 1972 leaving behind the foundations of a modern, vibrant Kashmir unshackled from ignorance, hunger, poverty and backwardness.
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