Kashmir’s Magna Carta Man

I first read The Jammu and Kashmir Big Landed Estates Abolition Act, 1950, in 1981. I still remember it was a cyclostyled document which had been underlined many times in many colours, and the text was now fading.

As I was diligently transcribing the Act by hand, I began to wonder who had authored it. Every line was a learning. Of course, the idea was embedded in the Naya Kashmir vision, but converting that seeded idea into a political instrument, drafting it as an actionable legislation and executing it as an administrative decision was a huge task. Who did all that, the real work as it were?

I asked around and everyone pointed in the direction “Beg saeb”, a reverential reference to Mirza Mohammed Afzal Beg. Since then, I have been in awe; maybe not so much of the man, but the mind of the man. Such was the might of the man, that he made the position of Mashir-e-Maal, the most coveted and respected job in the cabinet. Ahead of even the finance minister. He made the revenue department the centre of the government universe.

He was the author of what can legitimately be called the Magna Carta of Kashmir, a fundamental document in the history of J&K’s legal and political rights, a landmark in the development of a progressive egalitarian society. It not only touched the life of every single Kashmiri, but it also transformed the live of lakhs like never before. Or after. In fact, it is the first and the most comprehensive asset redistribution exercise anywhere in the country. The much-regarded West Bengal Land Reforms Act, 1955 and Kerala Land Reform Act 1963 were passed many years after Kashmir.

The vision, as Beg records in his booklet, On the Way to Golden Harvests: Agricultural Reforms in Kashmir, was to “lay the foundation of a new social order”. This collective vision of the National Conference was, of course, politically spearheaded by Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah but Beg with his rural upbringing, legislative understanding and administrative acumen accomplished it as a mission. He went about demolishing the feudal structure with care, avoiding chaos. Indeed, the asset redistribution in J&K were perhaps the first in the world carried out by a democratically elected non-communist government.

After being appointed Chairman of ‘Land-to-the-tiller Committee’ in 1949, Beg showed his deep understating of the feudal system that he had grown up in by first addressing the issue of indebtedness. In February 1950, he issued an ordinance deferring the realization of all debts. This six-month policy moratorium was followed by the “Distressed Debtors Relief Act” set the stage for reforming the rural credit markets which are inexorably linked to the land market in a feudal economy. As Economic Advisor, I did some archival file reading, and I was spellbound by his erudition in making a compelling case for debt write prior and alongside the land redistribution legislation.

He finally piloted the landmark legislation, and the Constituent Assembly passed the Big Estates Abolition Act on 17 October 1950. The rest as they say is history. In fact, more than history. Also, the present. The strength and resilience of the Valley economy draws from land reforms even today; some of it intentional and expected and some of it an unintended consequence. Today, the Valley economy with better than national average social indicators despite all the troubles and travails of its politics owes it to the structural transformation designed by Beg.

Beyond the economy, even politically the National Conference till today retains its position as the prime political organisation in the valley, largely because of the land reforms. At that time, land reforms also served as a political instrument aimed to hurt the interests of the fledgling Praja Parishad which had been formed in 1947 and represented feudal interests.

Despite being a member of the Constituent Assembly of India as well as the Constituent Assembly of J&K, Beg could not leave his imprint on Constitution of J&K. He was, of course, initially instrumental in laying out the overall framework, but for the coup of 1953, Beg would have contributed much.

Nevertheless, his most significant constitutional contribution was as the Chairman of the Basic Principles Committee of the Constituent Assembly of J&K set up in 1951. Beg had sown the seeds of what eventually grew to become Article 35 A. It was included as an Annexure to the report of the Committee and Girdhari Lal Dogra proposed that it be sent to the Government of Indian for appropriate action.

Beg had a nuanced and layered view on the “temporary nature of Article 370”. In the J&K Constituent Assembly Debates, Beg expounded the view that, “So long as it [constitution-making process] is not completed, Article 370 will remain there and when it reaches completion, we shall give to parliament what is parliament’s i.e., centre will have the acceded subjects and the rest will remain here. Article 370 is therefore temporary till we complete our constitution …its spirit will be incorporated in that constitution’. Irrelevant now, instructive nevertheless! Had this understating been deepened and developed, the powers under Article 370 could not have been exercised from time to time by the Union government to implode the special constitutional status.

The low point of Beg’s influential political career comes not so much with the “siyasi awargardi” but with the Parthasarathy-Beg talks in 1975. For all his brilliance, the accord shows chinks in his negotiating armour. Without questioning his integrity and intent, his negotiating skill don’t appear to match his legislative brilliance.

He can be blamed for sending Sheikh Abdullah with no bargaining arrows in his political quiver to meet a strong Mrs Indira Gandhi in the post 1971 “Durga” avatar. It was the lowest ebb in Sheikh Abdullah’s unparalleled career in public politics. He not only simply ratified but legitimised all that happened between 1953 and 1975. It was sheer political capitulation. Perhaps, it is this what Sheikh held against him eventually leading to his dismissal.

Notwithstanding such colossal contributions, rather inexplicably, he was not a part of the growing up of our generation even though he was very much in public domain in the mid-seventies, being the first Deputy Chief Minister in 1975. This was so even as one of his grandsons was then a very close friend at Burn Hall School. I do not recollect a single occasion where Beg’s immense contributions to Kashmiri society were discussed among our friends’ circles.

He deserves better. Far better. The contributions of Beg transcend the narrow confines of party and politics into the larger social arena. He may not have been a mass leader like Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah – his efforts to set up the Inqilabi National Conference failed -- but certainly does deserve a far greater space in our historical awareness as a post-feudal democratic society.

It is equally curious that no political party has sought to reclaim the rich legacy of Beg – realistic, pragmatic and transformational – and appropriate a good part of National Conference’s legacy. Time for a political party to do it and reap a rich rural harvest.

Tail piece:

Besides his obvious and precocious brilliance – he became a minister in his twenties -- Beg sahib is also known for a sharp sense of repartee, bordering on the ribald. A rib-tickling repartee with a younger colleague, who on seeing Beg quickly hid his cigarette behind his back. Beg sahib noticed it and advised him to continue smoking since there is no risk of cancer smoking from “behind”. Often the repartees were politically loaded. When Sheikh sahib visited an ailing Beg sahib and enquired if he recognised him, pat came the reply, “Yes, but a tad late in life”! He passed away this day in 1982, a few months before Sheikh sahib.

The author is Contributing Editor Greater Kashmir