An experiment in Dyarchy and it's failure continues....

As in the rest of India, we had to evacuate a large number of refugees from Jammu to Pathankot. Bakhshi Ghulam Mohammed, as Deputy Chief Minister, did splendid work in this matter. Working day and night, he was able to evacuate a very large number of persons from Jammu to Pathankot.

He gave me full co-operation in all administrative matters and was very courteous and friendly both towards His Highness and myself. If Bakhshi Sahib had then been chosen as Prime Minister in place of Sheikh Abdulla, most likely the history of these days might have been differently written. People would have been much happier that they were under the regime of Sheikh Abdulla. Power went to his head and he started behaving like Hitler and Mussolini. When all these things were happening in the State, negotiations were going on between His Highness and the Prime Minister of India with regard to the future constitutional set-up of the State.

The Prime Minister had himself suggested that the future constitution of the State be made on the Mysore model which left certain
reserver powers with the Maharaja. But times were changing rapidly and the Mysore model had become obsolete even in Mysore.

The Prime Minister desired the Maharaja to become the constitutional and ceremonial head of the State. One evening when I was in Delhi with him, the Prime Minister called in Sir Gopalswamy Iyengar and suggested that I should resign my office in Kashmir and get back to my job in the High Court. If I did not like coming back to the High Court some other job could easily be found for me. His view was that Sheikh Abdulla should be left free in the administration of the State. I told Sir Gopalswami and the Prime Minister that I had not the least desire to remain in the State but I would not leave till they had persuaded the Maharaja to release me. I was not prepared to let him down and leave him in the hands of the Sheikh whom he did not trust.

To be continued.....