Ram Chandra Kak
| Ram Chandra Kak | |
|---|---|
| Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir | |
|
In office June 1945 – 10 August 1947 |
|
| Preceded by | Sir Benegal Narsing Rau |
| Succeeded by | Janak Singh |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 5 June 1893 |
| Died | 10 February 1983 |
Ram Chandra Kak (5 June 1893 – 10 February 1983) was Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir during 1945–47. He was also a pioneering archaeologist who excavated the leading sites of antiquities in Kashmir Valley and wrote the definitive text on them.
He served at various keys positions in Maharaja Hari Singh's administration. Beginning as the superintendent of archaeology, he was appointed to the post of chief secretary in 1937. He was the minister of military affairs in 1941 and held the role of "minister-in-waiting" for the Maharaja Hari Singh during 1942–1945. He was appointed as the Prime Minister of Jammu and Kashmir from June 1945 – 11 August 1947 during the key transitional period when the British prepared for departure from India.
In 1946, the National Conference party began the Quit Kashmir movement against the Maharaja. Its leader Sheikh Abdullah was arrested on 15 May. Jawaharlal Nehru attempted to come to Kashmir as his defence counsel. Nehru's entry into the state was blocked by Kak. Nehru was arrested on 22 June and kept at the dak bungalow in Domel, close to Muzaffarabad. Nehru returned to Delhi after two days following a summon from Gandhi. Later, Kak met the Indian National Congress leaders in India in July and Nehru was permitted to revisit Srinagar. He met Abdullah in jail.
Kak was ill-disposed to the Indian National Congress because, in his view, it allied itself with Sheikh Abudllah and lent its "great weight of authority" to his agitation against the State government. After Abdullah's arrest in 1946, Congress leaders are said to have sent telegrams to Kak as well as the Maharaja demanding Abdullah's release. Kak held that "highly coloured, inaccurate and vituperative statements" were published by Congress, resolutions were passed against the Maharaja's government, and commissions of enquiry appointed. For these reasons both Kak and the Maharaja decided against acceding to the India Union in 1946 (even before the partition was decided).
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