Since Independence, a section of the people in the valley has been living with
the notion that it has always been New Delhi responsible for ``imposing’’ rulers in Kashmir, including the present Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who, after branded as `son of the soil’, was `uprooted’ from the Centre to take up the assignment in his home-State . But there is also a big section of the populace, who has a reason to believe that even prior to Independence till date, it were the mystic Saints, Rishis and Sufis from the valley, who would actually decide whom to bestow the power to rule their spiritual abode.! Materialistically sounds unbelievable---- but there is a well documented evidence and many living legends subscribing to the belief that Saints and Sages have been selecting the rulers in Kashmir and even `fighting’ wars on borders. The erstwhile Prime Ministers and former Chief Ministers of Jammu and Kashmir have gone on the record, having candidly admitted that they clinched the power only after their `files were okayed’ by certain spiritual powers, in whose memory and honour, Government of India has even released the centenary postal stamps in recent past.
This is not an old Kashmir folk-lore or a story from the Panctantra --- but the solid conviction of those born in post Independence era that it was a Saint from Srinagar who had actually bestowed power to Bakshi Ghulam Mohd after dethroning Sheikh Mohd Abdullah… the State’s first Prime Minister. Later, the same very saint, annoyed with Bakshi’s functing, had asked G M Sadiq to take the reins and even made prophecy in 1972 that Sheikh Mohd Abdullah will again be the ruler in 1975 but under a different nomenclature! (This time he was called Chief Minister and not Prime Minister!)
This wonder saint is Swami Nand Lal Ji who would call himself the `` Defence Minister”. His followers and every Kashmiri esteem him high and call him by the name as Nand Bab. And when he left this earthly world in 1973, the then Government of Jammu and Kashmir had to declare a holiday in his honour so that people could join his funeral procession.
Jagatguru Bhagwan Gopinath Ji, in whose memory Government of India released a centenary postal stamp on July 3, 1998, is another saint from Kashmir who has reportedly put in great spiritual effort from 1947 onwards, in uniting Kashmir with India, unmindful of the physical hardships he had to endure in the process, to bring order out of chaos. . His biographer S N Fotedar in a book on Bhagwanji recalls the day when Pakistani raiders had attacked Kashmir in October 1947 and after committing rape, murders and arson right from Uri, were about to repeat the same acts in Srinagar city. Lord Gopinath was approached by all those who wanted that raiders should not move into Srinagar city.
Late B L Kak, a journalist, in his book on Lord Gopinath recalls the day when this Srinagar based Kashmiri Pandit saint in mid August 1952 spoke about Sheikh Abdullah’s fall in typical Kashmiri: .
Kashmir boasts of another high spiritual Guru--- Pandit Harjoo Mastana, who would guide State’s former Prime Minister Bakshi off and on to seek his guidance for running the Government. In a book on ``Kashmir Ki Sant Parampara’’, authored by Prof B L Koul, there is a mention of how Bakhshi would meet this mystic Mastana frequently (page number 273). The same book--the Bhagwan Gopinath Ji Trust Publication--- states about Saint Manukak Goja of Anantnag, who once told Maharaja Pratap Singh that the ``Saints of Kashmir have decided to appoint Hari Singh as the new King”.
And during the present era when Kashmir is bleeding, a Mystic Saint from Jamat’s strong-hold town of Sopore in North Kashmir, has been spitting venom against militants and militancy since 1990. This mystic Saint is a Muslim by birth--Ahad Sahib, who has survived number of militant attacks over these years, the latest in 2006, which even injured him. His followers recall how Ahad Sahib made a prophecy in 1986 itself while saying that thousands of Kashmiris will get killed and thousands will flee the land. It was after four years of his prophecy that mass exodus of 1990 took place and those living there are still getting killed day in and day out.
With elections round the corner in Jammu and Kashmir, who knows who will be the next Chief Minister? Whether `imposed’ by New Delhi or `elected’ by spiritual powers--- the time will unravel the prophecy---if any! ======