GILDED CAGE

The story of the turbulent years of Kashmir.‘Geography, it has been suggested in certain influential quarters, will no doubt play a great part in determining the course which states would follow. Due to the proposed division of Punjab, it is therefore permissible to argue that Kashmir will find itself geographically isolated from the rest of India. Powerful influences may also develop which will tend to draw Kashmir to the new alignment of forces within areas adjacent to it. But considering the temperament and character of the people of the state and the policy and outlook of the National Conference, it can safely be assumed that under the stress of disintegrating forces, Kashmir would tend to develop progressive nationalism and a political life of its own rather than join any unhappy combination in the areas adjacent to it.’ —D.N. Kachru, Private Secretary to Jawaharlal Nehru (1947)In a powerful third part to his Kashmir trilogy, Sandeep Bamzai’s latest potboiler, The Gilded Cage, documents the contentious years that resulted in the making and unmaking of the ‘Kashmir issue’. From the emergence of Sheikh Abdullah in Kashmir’s politics up to his arrest to the disillusionment of the Kashmiri masses from their leadership, Kashmir turned into a caged match, a diabolical kill box where Pakistan’s attempts to mask the scent of the snare has and is creating consternation in the Valley. From Jinnah’s naked obsession for Kashmir to Sheikh Abdullah’s staunch hatred for Jinnah, from Jawaharlal Nehru’s comprehension of the Valley being a shop window for his brand of secular politics to Maharaja Hari Singh’s streak of remaining independent in the face of both India and Pakistan, this book covers the vital years that defined Kashmir’s accession to India.Accessing letters, files and documents never produced earlier in the public domain, Bamzai travels the duplicitous and often-tortuous path of history to bring to light the equally treacherous history of Kashmir.