Surendra Kishore
Whenever the movement of terrorists increases on the Pak border, the resignation of Union Minister Mahavir Tyagi is remembered. The late Tyagi resigned from his post in 1966, disagreeing with some of the terms of the Tashkent Accords. Freedom fighter Mahavir Tyagi had then said that Hajipir posts, which were won in the 1965 war, are very important from the point of view of India’s security. These should not have been returned.
Despite this, on the insistence of the Soviet Union in Tashkent, our ministers Swaran Singh and Y.B. Chavan persuaded Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to withdraw our forces from the Hajipir front. Tyagi believed that “Hajipir is such an important place from the military point of view that it cannot be possible to remove the army which will occupy this front under any circumstances.
And, without taking this front in our hands it is impossible for us to take possession of that part of Kashmir which has been annexed by Pakistan. Mahavir Tyagi regretted that Prime Minister Shastri himself had forgotten his promise made to the public.
Tyagi writes that during the Indo-Pak war of 1965, I had made an announcement to Lal Bahadur Shastri many times that the land of Kashmir which was kidnapped by Pakistan, and which we snatched from Pakistan in this war and captured it. We have taken it, we will not return it to Pakistan on any condition. Remember that Tyagi was the Rehabilitation Minister of the country at that time.
After the death of Prime Minister Shastri in Tashkent, a provisional cabinet was formed under the leadership of Gulzari Lal Nanda. Mahavir Tyagi was also included in it. A temporary cabinet meeting was convened to ratify the Tashkent Agreement. When the cabinet was ratifying it, Mahavir Tyagi opposed it. Tyagi said that this work should be left to the permanent cabinet.
When his words were not listened to, Mahavir Tyagi left the cabinet meeting in protest. He sent his resignation from the ministerial post to Nanda ji. Later the statement issued by Mahavir Tyagi to the newspapers was as follows-
“It cannot be denied that Pakistan and India will not be well developed and prosperous until the unity of these two countries is established. I believe that we will have to do our best for this. That the discrimination between us and Pakistan can be resolved peacefully and that we should never use military force to settle our disputes.
Tyagi ji wrote that as far as the Tashkent Agreement is concerned, I fully agree with its goal and good wishes. But there are some things in this agreement, which are quite contrary to the announcements made by our government and our party after September 1965.
Many elements of this agreement are very serious, so in my opinion the Provisional Cabinet should not shoulder the responsibility of putting its seal of approval on it and getting it passed by Parliament. Because instead of giving its decision on such a serious question for the provisional cabinet, it would have been appropriate to wait two-three days and wait for the new Prime Minister and the cabinet.
The late Tyagi said that “I could not prepare the cabinet to stay for two days. As far as I am concerned, it is for me to shoulder the responsibility of ordering the withdrawal of my army from Hajipir’s front.” It is difficult.”
“Not only in the post of Defense Minister of India, but I have some personal experience in the war front as a soldier of the First World War. On the basis of which I can say, that the posts of Hajipir, which were won on 5th August 1965, have Leaving would be a grave mistake, especially when Pakistan is not committed to withdrawing its guerrillas, its spies and unarmed soldiers and not to carry out such attacks in future.”
Tyagi also said that “immediately after the signing of the Tashkent Agreement, the Pakistanis made it clear that the withdrawal of the armed Pakistanis in the agreement does not mean that we should withdraw our armed guerrillas from Kashmir. Calling back and not interfering in each other’s internal affairs also does not mean that we should not interfere in Jammu and Kashmir because despite this agreement, Pakistan considers the region of Jammu and Kashmir as its private territory.
(The author is a senior journalist and political affairs expert)
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