A tribute to Sampat Prakash Krundu: The fearless voice of Kashmir

Kashmir will dearly miss a secular leader who stepped into the limelight again almost 26 years after his retirement from government service and enlightened the masses through his exemplary use of social media. 

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AUGUST 5, 2019 started a dark chapter in the history of Jammu and Kashmir. The special status of the state guaranteed under Article 370 of the Indian Constitution was abrogated. The state was downgraded and bifurcated into two Union territories.

Leaders from across the political spectrum were jailed or put under house arrest. There was an internet blockade and a near-total information blackout. It seemed as if Kashmiris had lost their voice along with their dignity and sense of being.

But in the months that followed, one voice tore through the gathering darkness like a flash of light. This fearless voice circulating on social media was of an old, retired government servant by the name of Sampat Prakash Krundu.

In fact, the revolutionary leader had been very vocal throughout his life, but after retirement, his work was restricted to helping senior citizens and retired people. 

The old man came back into the limelight in around 2018, after a hiatus of 26 years, when he joined the protests over the Indian government's proposal to revoke Article 370 and Article 35A. Since then, he has kept speaking about Kashmir's modern history, his struggle as a trade unionist and much more.

Sampat Prakash passed away in Srinagar on July 1, 2023, where he was living with his son, Lenin Kumar. He was 84 years old.

In the final years of his life, he was always surrounded by journalists and social media influencers as he had a  unique style of telling stories of the past, especially of a time when Kashmiri Hindus and Muslims lived together peacefully in Kashmir. 

First innings 

Sampat Prakash was born in a Kashmiri Brahmin family in Srinagar's Kralyar, Rainawari area on June 19, 1939. His father, Neelkant Krundu, was a teacher who taught at Mission High School, Rainawari, Srinagar and then at Dayanand Anglo-Vedic (DAV) School, Magarmal Bagh, Srinagar.

Sampat Prakash followed his father, completing his early education at the Mission High School, Rainawari and then moving to the DAV School in Magarmal Bagh. After his matriculation, he joined Sri Pratap College, Srinagar (S.P. College), where he completed his graduation in 1959.

At S.P. College, Sampat came in touch with Prof. Hridaynath Durrani, who introduced him to Marxism. Durrani was a staunch leftist and also happened to be Sampat's neighbour in Rainawari.

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During his college days, Sampat started taking an active part in student politics and was deeply influenced by leftist ideologies. He got in touch with communist leaders such as Ram Pairara Saraf and Kishen Dev Sethi soon after his graduation. 

Sampat joined government service in 1960 and was appointed an inspector in the office of the Custodian Evacuee Properties Department (CEPD) in Jammu. This was a newly created government institution that looked after the properties of people who had migrated from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) to Pakistan in 1947.

A residential quarter was provided to Sampat by the department on Wazarat Road in Jammu. In 1962, Sampat married Doora Motta Krundu. She was a government teacher and his support mechanism through the decades of ordeal due to his activism and politics.

As Sampat held the Russian revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin's ideology in high esteem, he named one of his sons Lenin Kumar. Lenin is an electrical engineer in the J&K government.

Low Paid Employees Federation 

After being appointed in the CEPD in Jammu, Sampat Prakash would frequently visit Ram Piara Saraf and Kishen Dev Sethi, who were both based in Jammu. 

Saraf and Sethi were both staunch leftists who were members of J&K's Constituent Assembly from 1951–57. Both of them were very close to the tallest Kashmiri leader of that era and National Conference patriarch, Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah. 

Saraf, who was born in 1924 and died in 2009, was also a member of the J&K legislative assembly post-1957 for many years. Sethi, who was born in 1928, died a few years ago in Jammu on January 28, 2021. 

On Saraf and Sethi's suggestion, Sampat Prakash, along with another comrade, Majeed Khan, set up the J&K Low Paid Employees Federation in the mid-1960s. The group was headed by Majeed Khan and Sampat was its general secretary.

The federation was the first employees union in J&K. Later on, this organisation split into the Sampat Prakash and Majeed Khan groups. Both groups worked tirelessly for many years to bring a change in the meagre remuneration of government employees.  

Sent to jail and dismissed from service  

Sampat Prakash suffered many hardships during his government service between 1959–97, on account of his activism and politics.

He was first arrested under the then Jammu and Kashmir Preventive Detention Act, 1964, for his involvement in the 1967 government employees strike at the state level, which went on for 17 days.

On October 25, 1967, government employees and teachers of the Jammu province held a mass meeting, making a demand that dearness allowance at Union government rates should be paid to them.

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They further resolved that if the government did not accept their demand, the employees and the teachers would go on 'dharna' (strike) on November 5, 1967. The then revenue minister of J&K promised a dearness allowance at half the rates applicable to Union government servants. 

On November 18, 1967, the employees went on a hunger strike for one day outside the residence of the chief minister. This was followed by a massive protest on November 27, 1967, wherein it was announced that, if the demands were not met, the employees would go on a pen-down strike from December 2, 1967. 

The government failed to comply with their demand and the employees went on strike with effect from December 4–10, 1967.

Initially, this was a pen-down strike which later metamorphosed into a general strike. From December 5–10, 1967 there were massive protests in J&K by the low-paid government employees, which were spearheaded by Sampat Prakash.

On December 11, 1967, workers of various government organisations in J&K also went on a general strike in sympathy with the government employees. To muzzle the increasingly louder voice, Sampat Prakash was dismissed from government service.

The dismissal didn't stop him and on December 12, 1967, he addressed several massive rallies. The government could not suppress the voice of this revolutionary trade unionist, and Sampat was finally arrested The district magistrate in Jammu issued his detention Order under Section 3 of the 1964 Act on March 16, 1968 and subsequently, on March 18, 1968, Sampat Prakash was taken into police custody.

He remained in custody for almost one and a half years. He was lodged in Tihar jail, Delhi. He was dismissed from the service for more than 26 years and was jailed and detained several times after this.

The then Union minister, George Fernandes, had to personally intervene for Sampat Prakash to be reinstated in the mid-1990s after which Sampat retired from government service in 1997.

An outspoken and ardent leader 

Sampat spoke chaste Koshur (Kashmiri) in a distinct style. He would explain the historical incidents post 1947–90 through small video clips that have become viral among Kashmiris on social media in the last few years.

Being a Kashmiri Hindu (Pandit), Sampat Prakash was criticised by many among his community for his stand on Kashmir and incidents that led to the migration of Kashmiri Pandits in the early 1990s.

For example, Sampat openly spoke against the narratives presented in the The Kashmir Files and asserted that Kashmiri Pandits were not thrown out of Kashmir by fellow Muslims in 1990.

He kept highlighting the incidents that took place between August–September, 1947, soon after the partition of British India as well as the princely state of J&K, wherein thousands of people including Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs were killed in communal clashes in the Indian and Pakistani parts of Punjab and parts of J&K, including Jammu.

Also read: Love in times of 'Kashmir Files'

In his speeches, Sampat would always say that not even a single Kashmiri Hindu (Pandit) was killed in Kashmir, as Muslims shielded them and kept them inside their houses for weeks when raiders (kabailis) from what was then known as North-west Frontier Province as well as from what is now known as Pakistan-administered Kashmir entered Kashmir valley in around September 1947.

After his interviews with social media influencers, journalists and some local news channels, Sampat Prakash became a household voice in Kashmir in the last few years. He could relate with the Kashmiri people, speak for them, and highlight their miseries and the political ordeal they have been facing for the last many decades.

Sampat, who is no more with us now, was a great storyteller. He would narrate stories of the atrocities historically committed on Kashmiris by governments and non-state actors.

He would name and shame the gunda (gangster) elements and groups such as Sahaba Gadda, Ama Koschul, Khoftan Fakeer and Kuntreh Pandah who were patronised by the state during the 1950s–60s and unleashed a reign of terror on local Kashmiris.

Conclusion

People associated with trade unions and social movements remain engaged with activism for a few decades, but there comes a time when they retire. There are very few people who come to the limelight once again after they have completed their innings.

Sampat Prakash is one such unique person who was known for his trade unionism in the 1960s to the late 1980s but after 1990, he was forgotten by the people as new employee unions, such as the J&K Teachers Forum, Jammu andK Employees Joint Action Committee, came into existence.

Sampat began the second innings of his activism in around 2011–12 when he founded the J&K Pensioners Welfare Forum and Senior Citizens Civil Society along with Syed Nasarullah, who was also a great trade unionist, heading the J&K Judicial Employees Union until 2008. 

Sampat and Nasarullah kept organising retired government employees. During these meetings, I got a chance to interact with Sampatji many times.

Sampat Prakash's heart always was in Kashmir and he was the biggest advocate of Kashmiri Muslims. His family lived in Jammu, but he would stay in Kashmir most of the time. In his old age, he kept travelling around Kashmir.

He got his son transferred to Srinagar some years ago and since then they have been living together. 

Sampat Prakash did not amass any wealth or property. He did not even have his own house in Srinagar or Jammu.

The only thing he has left behind is his legacy, which is cherished by one and all in Kashmir. This revolutionary leader will always remain in our hearts.