A Kashmiri Muslim against Art 370
RC Ganjoo
Sheikh Abdul Rahman was
the first Muslim in India to
join the Jan Sangh to raise
the voice of – Ek Vidhaan,
Ek Nishaan, Ek Pradhan,
against special status
accorded to J&K under Article 370, and
for integrating the state with the rest
of the country.
Sheikh Abdul Rehman was
unanimously elected president of
state unit of the Jan Sangh in 1972. He
was elected to the State Assembly in
1972 from the Hindu-dominating
constituency (Jammu North),
represented earlier by Pt. Prem Nath
Dogra, staunch leader of Dogra
Hindus of All Jammu and Kashmir
Praja Parishad, founded by the
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
It was Pt. Dogra who spotted
Rehman at a very young age to carry
his political agenda forward in the
state . Rehman's joining the Jan Sangh
was perhaps not liked by party colleagues who hatched intrigues
against him. As a result he quit the Jan
Sangh in 1974.
According to him, the
confrontation with the Jan Sangh
sparked when he refused to
accommodate Prof. Chaman Lal
Gupta as General Secretary of Jan
Sangh who had lost to Th. Swaran
Singh. " I was communicated that Prof
Chaman Lal Gupta be declared as
successful candidate for the post of
General Secretary as decided by the
Nagpur HQ," said Rehman . But
Rehman refused to obey it and
replied that he had followed the
constitution of RSS strictly.
Abdul Rehman with Pt Prem Nath Dogra
In a working committee meeting in
Delhi , Rehman’s arguments were
taken well by Baldev Prakash,
Mangal Sen and others. The meeting
was headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee,
the then Vice President of the party.
But surprisingly all the working
committee members later supported
the decision of dissolution of state
unit . It was humiliation for Rehman.
He walked out of the meeting in
protest , and later resigned from Jan
Sangh in 1974.
According to Rehman, witness to
partition , the wave of communal
frenzy in 1947 spread up to his home
town Bhadarwah. 96 of sheikh clan,
16 belong to Rehman's family of
which only three survived. The
circumstances pushed Rehman to
darkness with no means of livelihood
and he had to drop his education at
class 10.
He was contacted by an esteemed
advocate Swamiraj Kotwal from his
town who convinced him that he
should forget past and look at for
future. Kotwal was in process of
forming Praja Prashid unit in
Bhadarwah and Rehman was the
first Muslim to join Praja Parishid in
1949 as in-charge of Doda unit.
In 1954 Prem Nath Dogra, on his
first visit to Doda, noticed Rehman's fiery speeches at public gatherings. Pt
Dogra picked him and Rehman was
given the post of state secretary of
Praja Parishid (PP) and executive
member of the organization. In 1963
the PP merged with the Jan Sangh.
After his resignation from the Jan
Sangh ,Rehman joined the Lok Dal In
1974. Ch. Charan Singh, appointed
him state unit President of Jammu
and Kashmir and a member of
national working committee. During the 1975 emergency, Rehman played
a vital role and remained in touch
with national political leaders who
were lodged in different jails of the
country.
In 1978 Rehman was elected Raja
Sabha member on the Lok Dal ticket
from UP. During this period Kanshi
Ram approached him with the
proposal that minorities , schedule
castes and backward class needed a
political party who could fight for
their rights. In 1990 Rehman joined
the BSP.
Asked about the BJP today,
Rehman said its present set-up
was playing into the hands of
the corporate.
