Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Oct 23: With the abrogation of Article 370, the long struggle for unity of the country, the mission of Pandit Prem Nath Dogra, has been achieved but early measures are required to rectify the wrongs inflicted to the masses over the decades.
This was stated by the former Union Minister, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta while paying tributes to Pandit Prem Nath Dogra on the eve of his 136th birthday here, today. He said that Pandit Ji was a great visionary and opposed to any kind of division or differential treatment on basis of religion. But had to face the wrath of the new rulers of the State who wanted to create a fiefdom with the support of all powerful Prime Minister, Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru, mulling to appease his friend Sheikh Mohd Abdullah by creating Article 370 despite opposition even by the then Law Minister, Dr. B.R Ambedkar.
Nehru pleaded that this would be a just temporary provision. Pandit Prem Nath Dogra opposed the move on the plea that it was an easy to adopt any wrong but not easy to get rid of the evil. Prof. Gupta recalled that how the Sheikh and his cronies in power were angered and Pandit Dogra was first time arrested in February 1949 and put under detention without any trial in Srinagar jail to face the vagaries of the Winter.
Despite cruelties and despotic behavior, Pandit Ji faced the wrath with great perseverance and continued the struggle in most trying conditions, he added and recalled that in this struggle as many as 16 youths were shot dead while hoisting the Tricolor at various places and the great Indian leader, Dr. Shyama Prasad Mukherjee had to lay down his life while in detention at Srinagar. And thousands other patriots had to suffer the wrath of the rulers at that time, he added.
Prof. Gupta also said that because of the struggle of Pandit Dogra and other patriots many walls of separatism were demolished but the controversial Article 370 persisted in statue book for seven decades despite it being a Temporary Provision.
Prof. Gupta observed how this temporary provision encouraged separatism and fissiparous tendencies over the decades, is a matter of the history now but with the end of the malady the call of time is to rectify the wrongs of the past decades so that the suffering masses feel the dawn of new era of peace and development. He said this would be a real tribute to Pandit Ji and others who suffered a lot for the unity and integrity of the country.
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