By Shyam Kaul
Sheikh
Mohammed
Abdullah, during his second tenure as head of
the
Jammu and Kashmir government, inducted a
prominent National Conference (NC) leader from
Baramulla, Mubarak Shah, into his cabinet. After
Shah had got ensconced in his ministerial
position, he one day invited media persons to
his official residence near Zero bridge in
Srinagar for an informal chat with him. During
the course of interaction with him, we found
Shah to be an engaging talker. He told us many
interesting things about the political movement
in Kashmir, and his association with Sheikh
Abdullah. Shah also told us that he and PN
Jalali, who at that time represented PTI in
Srinagar, has been active as “underground
workers of NC”, headed by Sheikh Abdullah, who
had launched Quit Kashmir movement in 1942,
against the Maharaja of Jammu and Kashmir.
As Shah was giving these details, I intervened
and told him, “Mr. Shah you have long since come
up overground while Jalali is fated to
perpetually remain underground.”
What I actually meant to tell Shah was that the
role, service, and sacrifices of most of those
active during the Quit Kashmir movement has been
well recognized and rewarded, but PN Jalali was
one among others who never found any political
accreditation or recognition, let alone any
recompense or reward.
Jalali had been drawn into the political
movement, set in motion by Sheikh Abdullah, as a
student, and stood associated with it as an
enthusiastic activist of the youth wing of NC,
right up to early 1950s. He suffered the wrath
and excesses of the Maharaja’s regime, including
imprisonment, as did many other young and
educated workers, who included both Kashmiri
Pandits and Muslims.
Sheikh Abdullah took a liking for youthful
Jalali, who, he found had a deep and captivating
singing voice. Jalali would often recall how he,
as a student, was asked by the Sheikh to climb
up to the stage at the NC public rallies, and
sing a revolutionary song or two to enthuse the
gathering.
As a youth worker, Jalali would recollect that
he was assigned some tasks by the party
leadership. One such task was to be with the
workers of the government-run woollen mills in
Srinagar and impart elementary political
education to them, with a view to making them
aware of their rights and also educating them on
the political developments in the state.
It was during those early formative years of his
life that Jalali, under the influence of his
senior colleagues, and his own craving for
knowledge of intellectual and political
movements, made extensive study of communist
literature. In fact it was trendy for the
educated youth of mid-20th century to read
Marxist literature. Jalali, like quite a few
other Kashmiri youngmen, found it in perfect
consonance with his yet fresh and unprocessed
political aspirations. For the rest of his life
Jalali remained uncompromisingly wedded and
committed to the Marxist ideology. From NC he
graduated to the Leftist politics, associating
himself with the Communist Party and staying so
all his life. He would also speak of his
disillusionment with the NC and its leadership,
because he felt that the high ideals it had set
for itself were jettisoned half way through, and
instead it became a race for material benefits
rather than the fulfilment of ideals.
His perigrinations, as a student, into the
active, and often hectic, politics of the day,
cost Jalali fairly heavily in his studies. It
took away at least three precious years of his
college education. It was only after 1947 that
he resumed his studies, did graduation and then
proceeded to Lucknow to join MA classes in
political science in the university there. But
within a few months his ill health prevented him
from pursuing his studies. He was hospitalised
for surgery, but he left the hospital and after
some time proceeded to Czechoslovakia with a
youth delegation of the Communist Party and also
for treatment of his ailment. It was there that
he first met his future wife, Sumitra, a Bengali
girl, also associated with the communist
movement.
Back in India, Jalali took up journalism as his
wholetime profession, though before that also he
had been occasionally writing columns for
progressive periodicals. He worked for weekly
Blitz of Bombay and Partiot of Delhi and also
contributed to a news agency. At the
commencement of 1960s Jalali joined Press Trust
of India (PTI) in Srinagar, when Harpal Nayyar
was the chief of the Bureau. As years rolled by,
Jalali rose to become the bureau chief of PTI
for
Jammu and Kashmir,
and retired as such. But he still continued to
write for some journals and newspapers and
stayed a journalist till the last breath of his
life.
Having known and having been closely associated
with Jalali, as a deeply committed political
being and as a mentor and intimate professional
colleague, one can say with conviction that
Jalali was a dyed in the wool Kashmiri and an
unwavering upholder of Kashmiri’s centuries-old
civilisational legacy of peace, non-violence,
humanism, secularism, harmony and brotherhood of
man. Even during nearly two decades of his exile
from Kashmir, Jalali kept himself incessantly
engaged, working for the preservation and
promotion of this noble heritage of Kashmir, all
the time striving to contribute whatever he
could to bring back normalcy and sanity in
Kashmir, in the shape of a life of harmony,
brotherhood and togetherness of all the sections
of Kashmiri society. He inspired many a young
men and women who continue to be dedicated to
the realisation of his dream.
The most striking attribute of Jalali’s
personality was his inborn humanistic and
secular convictions and his professional
excellence as a journalist. As a student, I used
to attend some of the political study circles,
conducted by Jalali as a communist activist,
initiate the greenhorns into the ABC of leftist
ideology. One still comes across many of them,
even in rural areas, who get nostalgic about the
past and recall the enlightening experiences of
Jalali’s study circles.
Many of my colleagues, who like me joined the
profession of journalism, when Pranji was fully
established in it, will recollect how we would
pore over his news stories, despatches and
articles, to find guidance and inspiration. He
was simply brilliant, analytical and incisive
when writing on political subjects. The articles
he wrote were specimens of facile prose, and
always educative, informative and thought
provoking.
As a bright and energetic youngster with stars
in his eyes, Jalali had almost forsaken his
education to make his debut on the stage of the
most powerful political party of
pre-independence era. But the circumstances
prvented him from making this stage a stepping
stone for a political career. He fought his own
way through life, and, as a common man, ended up
as a highly respected journalist. Ultimately,
though, it is the man in the street who weaves
the fabric of a robust, pragmatic and
forward-looking society. Jalali was one such
man.
Whether it was his role as volunteer of the
people’s militia to repulse the invasion of the
marauding tribals from Pakistan, before the
Indian army’s arrival in Kashmir in 1947, or
whether, as a political activist, it was his
single-minded commitment for strengthening the
secular and humanistic values of Kashmir, or
whether as a journalist, it was his contribution
in writing as a perpetuator of Kashmir’s noble
ethos, and as an upholder of objective
journalism, Pranji was always there in the front
line.
Soon after Jalali’ death, Jammu-based media
persons organised a condolence meeting at the
Press Club. Farooq Abdullah, who was one of the
speakers, paid a poignant tribute to the
departed journalist. He also lamented that the
governments in Jammu and Kashmir had not ever
done anything by way of recognition of
distinguished journalists of the state for their
services in building a healthy socio-political
system here.
I was tempted to ask Dr Farooq Abdullah what he
had done in this direction when he was the chief
minister of this state, not once, but thrice. I
also wanted to tell him that ingratitude was the
hallmark of most politicians in this state. But
I did not do so, the solemnity of the occasion
did not warrant the raising of such issues.
As a person, Jalali was highly companionable and
chatty. Like late Shamim Ahmed Shamim he was
uncontainable talker. One recalls that when
Shamim would walk into Srinagar coffee house
every morning, people at different tables would
invite him to join them. He had only one answer.
“Only if you are prepared to listen to my “taqreer”,
(speech)”. This was true of Pranji also.
It was a treat to listen to Jalali on wide range
of subjects, from politics, to history, to
communism, to books, to music, down to trade
unionism, and, of course, his own reminiscences
of the past. He had a pungent sense of humour
and like a typical Kashmiri, could enjoy a joke
at his own expense too.
As mediapersons we would be touring often, our
favourite pack being Jalali, Mohammed Sayeed
Malik, Yusuf Qadiri, Maqbool Hussain and myself.
On one such tour we went to Kupwara. On our way
back in the evening Jalali wanted to buy some
fish at Sopore. We went to the river bank but he
couldn’t find the fish of his choice. As we were
making our back, a buxom fisherwoman called out
and offered a large fish to Jalali which he
instantly liked and bought.
Then he asked the woman, “ why didn’t you call
me while I was looking for fish from this end to
that when you had this fine stuff to sell. The
fisherwoman replied innocently and
unpretentiously, “ I did call you several times,
but all you did was to show your posterior to
me.”
On our return journey to Srinagar, the peppery
retort of the fisherwoman sent us all into
guffaws all the way.
