Tumhara zar hamara sar;
doo cheezon say bani hai mill;
nafa kay doo hesay kama;
barabar hai barabar hai.
—Ahmad Joo
(Oh Capitalist! bear in mind it is the working together of your capital and our skill that makes the factory so profitable. It is, therefore, the only logical thing to distribute the dividends equally.)
This poetic expression of Ahmad Joo, popularly known as Amma Baba Fateh Kadal Walla, clearly reflects the change that had occurred in the heart and soul of the Kashmiris before the commencement of the revolt of 1931. Upholding the workmen’s yearning desire to shape their own destiny, and denouncing with pugnacity the unequal distribution of wealth, it manifests the changing Kashmiri psyche that was growing restive to shuffle across a difficult path of rebellion.
A whole new concept of awakening was freshening up the Kashmiri minds and infusing them with a spirit of recalcitrance in the 20th century when various Anjuman had come into being under the influence of newly founded Mission schools, hospitals, post and telegraph system; when the opening of Jehlum Valley Cart Road was bringing people closer to the ideas that were shaping the attitudes of the Indians against the British colonialism; when the Western political concepts were gradually seizing the imagination of the Kashmiris, both Hindus and Muslims; when the outmoded beliefs were slowly, but imperceptibly, casting off the dead weight; and when the Pandits were gaining tremendous confidence as a result of the achievement of their ambition through their campaign for the mulki rights.
This consciousness, no doubt, symbolized a fragmented view of the society, but its common factor was the growing popular discontent with the policies of the Dogra regime; a composite formation that embodied the nascent agitational attitude in the matrix of a broader political culture. But the shadow of rather too parochial mulki objective obscured the prospects of achieving requisite social solidarity to form a joint Hindu-Muslim alliance against their common foe. It obtruded its ugly horns to put a real damper on the growing expectations of communal cohesion, and exposed what was cunningly concealed in the mulki demand.
The Pandits wanted a share in the State services which were practically reserved for the non-Kashmiris. In the name of general masses, they raised a hue and cry against the employment policy of the Government and continued to grumble till their mulki rights were recognized and the doors of the State services thrown open to them. While substantiating this, one of the most prominent Pandit leaders and prolific writers of the times, P.N. Bazaz writes:
Kashmiri Pandits demanded a change in the policy of Government. In the name of the people of Kashmir they protested against discrimination and unfair treatment. But while they spoke in the name of the people what they demanded was not for the benefit of the masses and the lower strata of the society, but for themselves. They wanted a share in the State services.
The Kashmiri Pandits were politic enough to calculate their relative advantage. They were very adept at making excuses for their personal gain and did not hesitate to make up their way through:
Tel, bel, chieal
(Corrupt practices, lying, and deceit.)
And
Nalam, halam, ya kalam (Lying, begging, or writing.)
The successful culmination of their mulki demand and the resultant absorption of their youngmen in the State services changed them into good propagandists for the Dogra regime; the staunch defenders of the autocratic Hindu rule and saboteurs of the popular Muslim aspirations. It resulted in their assimilation to the tradition of the exploiter; making them his real good stooges to inspire obedience.
It was no wonder , therefore , that they got a good return on their investment. Responsive to the wishes of its adulators and sycophants, the regime extended full patronage to the Pandits by giving them power to satiate their gluttonous appetite for worldly comforts; converting them into parasites with souls made of money; and with a mindset whose sole aim was personal aggrandizement. Walter Lawrence writes:
….Kashmiri Pandits had power and authority, and Muslims… were forced to work to keep the idle Brahmans in comfort.
They gained ample economic stability, political power and social status which, subsequently, so enhanced their influence that they could easily subvert any attempt aimed at reducing their subsidies and concessions. According to Walter Lawrence:
The secret of the cheap shali [was] because if the prices were allowed to rise to its proper level the whole body of Pandits would compel the palace to yield to their demands.
He further adds:
The Pandits had a right to be well fed whether there [was] famine or not at two Chilki mpees a kharwar… The cultivator [was] considered to have rights neither to his land nor to his crops.
This uncontrolled and unprecedented transgression and violation of human rights and social equilibrium paved the way for cracks to develop in the traditional ethos of Kashmir which manifested themselves in an unbridgeable gulf between the two sides of its population; one represented by less then 01% richly rewarded parasites and idle comfort-seekers and the other by over 99% poverty afflicted producers of wealth. Disturbing psychologically and emotionally the externally quiet masses—the undefended cultivators, unprotected workmen, the impoverished weavers and the unemployed youth— the situation was volatile enough to reinforce the public hatred for the enslaving bureaucracy, and for the disreputable political methods of the Pandit community.
Thus, the Kashmir history was slowly preparing the ground for new political experiments. It was, by degrees, melting into newer scenes. And by 1924A.D., the feelings of both communal and class consciousness had become too visible to propel the Kashmiris along the road of agitation. Some spark had to ignite the crises; it was the meager wages of the workmen of the State owned Silk Factory. The pressure was multiplied by a phenomenal growth in its profits which had gone up to 25 lakhs of rupees a year. The management, comprising Pandits, was in no mood to enhance the wages which were mere four and half annas per head per day, a portion of which was pocketed by it for itself.
The increasing profits of the Factory fully justified the workers demand for a revision of wages. But the management turned down the demand on one pretext or the other, and tried to reduce workmen to silence by employing the routine business methods which they refused to abide by. The management ignored the demand.
It was, however, a tactical error of the management to calculate the demand as insignificant and to ignore it altogether. A blunt refusal to discuss the issue was even more annoying. The official arrogance so enraged the workmen, who came mostly from the suburbs of Srinagar, that they decided to go on all-out strike.
Not realizing the dimensions of the growing labour unrest, the Government failed to conceive that the workmen would observe strike which even the people could not believe was possible. The unrest had assumed a new proportion. The workmen’s misery had now crossed the limit. Frustration was writ large on their faces. The Factory premises presented a scene of turbulent emotions. The entire work had come to a stand still.
The workmen “assumed a defiant and threatening attitude and refused to work and to carry out the orders of the Director. They went so far as to appoint their own officers from among their ranks”.It was at this critical juncture that the government started sensing trouble and decided to act. Twenty five of the twenty seven labour leaders were arrested on the charges of fomenting trouble in the Factory.?
This action was even more provocative to light the fire of upsurge. The workmen now took out a procession in which even the children participated. They openly attacked the Government by chanting Amma Baba’s revolutionary song and by waving banners displaying anti- establishment feelings. A big crowd of 2000 proceeded towards Shergarhi where they tried in vain to enter the police station. However, they declined to leave until their leaders were not released. The sheer magnitude of the resistance so completely unnerved the authorities that they deployed both infantry and cavalry to suppress it with violence. Still, the agitators were in no mood to yield. They continued defending their position against the disreputable business methods of an unreliable management; forcing it to increase their wages, though minutely.
Hitting the entire city unprecedentedly, this labour unrest was an epoch-making event in the evolution of organized opposition to the Dogra rule. Unlike the earlier outbursts of the shawl-bafs, it became a collective social action by gaining a large number of supporters for the workmen’s cause, and inspired the unemployed skilled labour, the weavers , the paper machie artists and the educated unemployed Muslim youth to join hands with the agitators. Even some religious organizations extended their full support to the movement and the volunteers of Anjuman-i-Hamdard Islam participated in the procession, demonstrations and protest meetings organized by the workmen.Babu Ibrahim, the president of the Anjuman was forced by the Government to leave the state territories.
The State Silk factory strike , thus brought the conditions of the Kashmiri Muslims into focus and encouraged many prominent members of the community to present a memorandum to the Viceroy of India, Lord Reading, when he visited Srinagar in October 1924A.D.
The memorandum outlined their grievances and a catalogue of reform; a strategy that became the core of their political thinking and social action hence-forth.
Dr. Abdul Ahad is a well-known historian of Kashmir. He presents a perspective on the Kashmir issue and talks about Kashmir’s history and individuality and personality. For feedback the author can be mailed at drahadhist@yahoo.co.in