Maharaja Pratap Singh - Victim of the Great Game

Maharaja Pratap Singh (Source: Wikipedia)

Maharaja Ranbir Singh was a beacon of the Dogra dynasty, and had certainly much to his credit, including the annexation of Gilgit-Baltistan, Hunza and Chitral, criminal and legal reforms like the introduction of the Ranbir Danda Vidhana that also took into account forensic evidences like fingerprints, and pushing for industrialization via support to shawl making, horticulture, silk production and many others. However, in the twilight of his life, frequent illnesses caused him severe disabilities, keeping him away from administrative affairs. In the absence of a strong monarch, corruption, administrative malpractices, and nepotism had taken deep roots into the Jammu and Kashmir state. Several terrible taxes that were originally introduced for the purpose of funding military campaigns continued – in fact, they became routes for siphoning money from the state coffers, rendering it bankrupt. Moreover, Ranbir Singh had three sons – Pratap Singh, Amar Singh and Ram Singh, of which Ram Singh and Amar Singh vied for the throne aggressively. Ranbir Singh held mixed opinions about his eldest son, and in fact wanted Amar Singh to be the heir apparent; fate held it otherwise. British monarchical laws of the time meant that only Pratap Singh could be the legitimate heir to the throne, which meant that in 1885, with the death of Ranbir Singh, Pratap Singh became the third Dogra monarch of the state of Jammu and Kashmir in such contested circumstances and with an almost empty coffer.

While there is some element of truth in the fact that Maharaja Pratap Singh was eager to gain some favor from the British government of India, it does not take away from him several important measures he undertook that transformed the state, much in line with the spirit of the Dogra rulers. With the military conquest phase behind them, the monarchs could truly administer the ailments that afflicted the state, and take them head-on, even if it upset the apple cart for some of the top administrators in the state. While it is often argued by many, including those jaundiced scholars on Kashmir, that the Dogras were not interested in improving the state of affairs of the Kashmiris, facts state otherwise. It is essential to highlight that Pratap Singh abolished several taxes to give relief to the people despite serious strain on state finances arising from them. Taxes imposed on a host of daily essentials like ghee, and wool were abolished; so were duties like Zar-nakhas on sale of horses and Naosakht on boats and the ravangi on export of Pashmina from Srinagar in 1885 itself. To push for greater industrialization within the state for people’s benefit, monopolies from manufacturer of bricks, lime and paper were withdrawn by the government, thus creating a chance of perfect competition. Even import duties on edibles were removed by his administration.

Transport was facilitated in his domain by leaps and bounds. Roads like the Jhelum Valley Cart Road and the Banihal Cart Road were built. Jammu was linked to Sialkot by rail with personal interest of the Maharaja driving it by 1890. Even cable car communication between parts of Jammu were conceptualized though it failed to become reality.

On the front of law and order as well as dignity of humanity, important steps were undertaken by the government. It is convenient that the British residents of the time including Lt. Col. Charles Plowden and Sir Oliver St. John criticized the practices within Kashmir, when their predecessors had in fact approved of them. The case of begar or forced labor during the reign of Maharaja Ranbir Singh was ironically justified on economic grounds with suggestions of improvement by the then British resident; however, seeing the inhumanity of it, Pratap Singh abolished it, and instead declared minimum wages for labor and provisions whenever required by the state. Forceful conscription into the army from every tenth household of a village was stopped, giving much relief to people in Jammu. Further, he reformed the criminal code to ensure that people got equal sentences irrespective of their caste and stature within society. This also goes to show that far from British coercion, reforms were initiated by the Maharaja, a conservative Hindu with a modern outlook, of his own volition.

On the education and administrative fronts too, Pratap Singh made several important contributions. Schools and colleges were opened in Jammu and Srinagar, while existing schools were refurbished and remodeled so that the best of modern education could be imparted. Municipal corporations to govern the two cities were also created. Rules and policies on matters of education, public service and administrative issues like the creation of an administrative council to look after matters were drafted and implemented for the first time.

VICTIM OF THE GREAT GAME

While the Maharaja was on a path of transforming the state, the Great Game began. Having taken control of region after region in Central Asia, Russia had after the Crimean war come very close to the British Indian domain, right next to Afghanistan. By sheer luck, a small sliver retained by Afghanistan was all that divided Russia under the Romanovs and the British India. In such circumstances, the British under the influence of Mortimer Durand, had started to hear alarm bells on the north-western border, and had started to believe that while the North West Frontier Province was secured with a border after understanding with the Amir of Afghanistan, the state of Jammu and Kashmir would have to play a similar role, especially the areas of Chitral, Hunza, Nagar and Gilgit, whose rulers accepted the Dogra suzerainty.

Dalip Singh (Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Within the state, matters were not necessarily pleasant either.  Raja Amar Singh and Raja Ram Singh were always displeased with the succession of Pratap Singh, and had decided to play ball with the British resident and the former Prime Minister Lachman Das to defang the Maharaja. In 1889, the new Resident Perry Nisbet, purportedly friendly to Pratap Singh got access to thirty-four letters supposedly written in Dogri that supposedly unraveled nefarious plans of the Maharaja in collusion with Dalip Singh, the former ruler of Lahore and son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and the Russian empire. The letters also apparently mentioned plots to kill Nisbet as well as Ram Singh, Amar Singh and their families in exchange of money. Nisbet read the riot act, and vouched for the genuineness of the letters, which did not make sense for a whole host of reasons. In the words of the Maharaja himself:

‘..who is in Russia to read Dogra vernacular?....who is the fool in the world to commit such base conspiracies in writing?..’

Nevertheless, the British resident took it up with the then Governor General Lord Dufferin, who decided that the Maharaja be defanged for all practical purposes. The Provincial council, of which Amar Singh and Ram Singh were important members, were given all the powers to govern, reducing Pratap Singh to a mere ceremonial figure. Moreover, the state was forced to give Gilgit, Baltistan, Chitra, Hunza and Nagar provinces on lease to the British government, who controlled it via their military. The Great Game had a victim of circumstances, especially a man who could have changed the picture of the state much more. A coup d’etat had been successfully conducted by the British in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, which had no role to play, which had a monarch who was willing to go the extra mile to accommodate British concerns, and who also, through his personal goodwill, asked people of Jammu and Kashmir to help the British government during World War I.

By the time, post World War I, when impressed by the Dogra forces and the ‘conduct of the Maharaja’ the British government restored some of the powers, he was in no condition to enjoy it, and he died in 1925. His wife had died much earlier, and he had never had a child, and so eventually, he was succeeded by Maharaja Hari Singh, the son of Amar Singh.