Chitralekha Zutshi on the paradoxes and contradictions that trailed the political life of one of the tallest leaders of the Kashmir Valley

In a new biography, Sheikh Abdullah: The Caged Lion of Kashmir, Chitralekha Zutshi builds a complex portrait of a key figure of India’s modern history. As Kashmir remains a contested question of territory and identity for its people, and India as a whole, Zutshi says there is significant continuity in Delhi’s approach towards the border region. Edited excerpts:

Question: Sheikh Abdullah was not an intellectual in the manner Nehru was perhaps, but he created the notion of Kashmiri nationalism. Yet, he was unable to steer the course of the force he created. Is that the key argument of your book?

Answer: Yes, to an extent. He was the founder and creator of the idea of the Kashmiri nation. By the late 1930s he had come into contact with Nehru and other leaders, and he became very much a part of the Indian National Congress’s vision for the subcontinent, and attracted to it. He wanted Kashmiris to be free from political repression and economic exploitation. Not just for Muslims, but Hindus and Sikhs; all classes, castes and sects. But in creating this idea, he also sowed the seeds for the divisions that have plagued Kashmir ever since, because not everyone agreed with this notion. Between the Valley and Jammu, between Hindus and Muslims, fissures began to appear.

Q: Was he trying to please everyone but ended up pleasing none?

A: In the 1940s, he was trying to have a Kashmiri movement, within the larger Indian nationalist framework. By the early 1950s he had soured on that idea. The people that he wanted to please the most, his primary constituency, always remained Muslims of the Valley. Those were his people, and he wanted his constituency to believe that he was still a devout Muslim, which he was. He wanted to make Nehru and the Congress leadership believe that he was a truly secular individual, which he also was. In the immediate postcolonial India

Sheikh Abdullah (right) with Jawaharlal Nehru; and (below) Chitralekha Zutshi. or even in the 1940s it was a difficult act. He spoke in the Islamic idiom to his constituency. He was also inspired by Nehru and his socialism. And he was very uncomfortable with the Pakistan movement.

Q: Do you think Abdullah was naive or tactless as a politician at crucial points?

A: For someone who had been in politics for so long, rubbed shoulders with people like

Sardar Patel, Nehru, Kripalani and Jinnah, he appears naive at times. At crucial moments he was in prison, and away from the scene. When two nations were being born in 1947, he was in prison. During the 1964 IndiaChina war, he was in prison, and when he came out, he held a meeting with the Chinese premier, triggering a huge controversy. Being in prison during crucial periods of history prevented him from seeing the big picture at times.

Q: Would it be correct to say that Abdullah and Nehru had false expectations of each other visavis Kashmir?

A: Abdullah truly believed that Nehru would stand by him, but Nehru could only do so much. Discussions between both sides led to the Delhi Agreement of 1952, but both had different hopes

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