Skip to main content

Govt of India refuses to make public files that say Nehru contemplated strike to save J&K

By A Representative
Did Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru contemplate a strike to “save” Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in 1947? It would seem so if one is to believe senior Right to Information (RTI) activist Venkatesh Nayak, who made an application to the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library (NMML), popularly Teen Murti Library, to gain access to J&K files of 1947 to 1949 to find out what the truth was.
While Nayak was denied information of the J&K files, the transcripts of an interview historian BR Nanda did with Sir Francis Robert Roy Bucher, 2nd Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army decades later, suggest that there were “multiple references to files and papers related to J&K affairs that were compiled between 1947 and October 1949 by Sir Roy Bucher and handed over to NMML.”
Yet, the index of archival papers shows that the file Sir Roy Bucher had handed over to NMML was catalogued "closed" to the public under instructions of the Ministry of External Affairs, says Nayak, wondering how could the papers “relating to official matters of the Central or State government” escape RTI scrutiny.
In the interview, Sir Bucher has been quoted as saying that he has two letters at home from Nehru, in which the latter had become “very perturbed about the shelling of Akhnur and the Beripattan Bridge by Pakistan heavy artillery from just within Pakistan.”
The file Sir Roy Bucher had handed over to Teen Murti was catalogued "closed" to the public under instructions of the Ministry of External Affairs
Stating that Nehru enjoined him “to do all I could to counteract this”, the interview insists, “There was nothing which one could do except counter-shell.”
Sir Bucher quotes one of the letters as stating, "I do not know what the United Nations are going to propose. They may propose a cease-fire and what the conditions are going to be I do not know. If there isn't going to be a cease-fire, then it seems to me that we may be faced with an advance into Pakistan and for that we must be prepared. I assured my Prime Minister that all steps would be taken to meet any eventuality."
Nayak, who is with the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, demands, “In order to get to the bottom of the truth, the Sir Roy Bucher files and all other related papers, transcripts and microfilms in the NMML holdings as well as archival materials held in the National Archives and the Ministry of Home Affairs and the Ministry of External Affairs must be made public without any delay.”
Wonders Nayak in an email alert, “The NDA-II Government promised to declassify papers held in secret for several decades about Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. It is yet to fully deliver on this commitment. Will NDA-III go the whole length of the way to make archival papers about J&K public?”

Comments

TRENDING

To Sonam Wangchuk: 'Will undertake 70 hour solidarity fast in Gujarat'

By Martin Macwan *  Dear Colleague Sonam Wangchuk, I have never met you personally. I wrote a short article at the time of your arrest. Your work correctly introduces you. There is truth in your words. You have embarked on a fast, following the footsteps of Gandhiji. Your intention is to make people think. Your demand is reasonable; I believe that the resignation of a single education minister will not improve the state of education in India. However, the question you have raised is extremely important for the future generation of the marginalized. Education is the key to power, development, and progress, which empowers a citizen.

US civil society coalition slams Hudson Institute for hosting RSS leaders

By A Representative   The Hudson Institute ’s “New India Conference,” held on April 23, featured senior figures from India’s ruling political ecosystem, including RSS General Secretary Dattatreya Hosabale and BJP foreign affairs head Vijay Chauthaiwale . The event also included U.S. officials and former diplomats such as Kurt Campbell, Kenneth Juster, and Nisha Biswal, alongside India’s Ambassador to the U.S., Vinay Kwatra.  

Remembering Rampur ka Tiraha: State violence and the birth of Uttarakhand’s struggle

By Vidya Bhushan Rawat*  In the turbulent political landscape of the early 1990s, India witnessed events that reshaped its social and regional equations. After the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992, Uttar Pradesh politics shifted dramatically, bringing the Samajwadi Party–Bahujan Samaj Party coalition to power in 1993 under Mulayam Singh Yadav. But the partnership was uneasy. Mulayam was never entirely comfortable playing the “Mandal card.” While Kanshi Ram and the BSP had consistently demanded the implementation of the Mandal Commission recommendations, Mulayam hesitated, wary of how the move might play out.