I Apologise!
Prof. Nutan K Resutra
My dear readers, I apologise.
I apologise to you all who have been encouraging me by reading what-so-ever write up I have been presenting. To you all in general, I apologise. And I apologise to some in particular too.
I apologise to the warrior people of this Duggar land,since even up till now we do not in fact have the Dugger Land! The Dogras have been great warriors and the likes of legendry General Zorawar Singh went hitherto unreachable and invincible lands including as far as Tibet in their conquering spree, bringing untarnished glory to the Dogra Empire. To them, I apologise.

I apologise to an Unknown Soldier in that great Army who fought along-side the General and laid down his life in the Battle for Tibet. When his last belongings along with his Sword were sent to his home in Samba, there was great mourning and howling among ladies. But his composed wife took the Sword with all respect and honour and went inside to keep it in Pooja Ghar. After a long spell of time when she did not return, inquisitive folk went in to the Pooja Ghar and to their horror, saw that the said lady had cut her own throat also with the same Sword of her husband and was lying there in pool of blood! I saluted that blood -stained Sword of the Veernagna when it was brought in Udhampur College for Shaurya Shastra Exhibition during my tenure as the Principal. And I apologise to that Veerangna, and thousands of other Unknown soldiers of the Great Dogra Army.
The seat of Dogra Rule, Mubarak Mandi Jammu, has undergone from time to time not one or two but three mysterious fires; systematically destroying the very Dogra culture itself. And it seemed to be based on the dictum that if you want to annihilatea generation, destroy its culture.It is a fact that the Victors write History. To add insult to injury, our text books have been flooded with glorification of Post- Independence Rulers and Demonisation of the Great Maharaja Hari Singh Ji and his ancestors; an example being that of portraying the armed rebellion of July 13 against the Dogra Rule, the Martyrs’ Day. During my very short stint as the Chairman Board of School Education J&K (BOSE), I tried to get text books re-written by bringing untold truth to light and glorifying the really deserving Dogra Rulers and the rich Dogra Culture.
I failed!
And I apologise.
History has not been unkind to We, The People of Jammu; rather it has given us many chances to unite. But alas! We have been very unkind to History itself. I had read in my childhood that United we stand and Divided we fall. But in Jammu, what we have actually practised is United we fall!
I have seen two major agitations in my short life of sixty -five years, the latest one being the Amarnath Land Row when whole of Jammu united under the Tiranga and with the song Jhuk Gayee Sarkar Jago Jago Re; echoing each and every street with Security Forces in battle gear on guard, both sides respecting each other peacefully. No laathis, no stone pelting; and yet the message went loud and clear that now Jammu is awake; Jammu will get its rights peacefully. And just when the Movement was about to reach a fruitful and respectable conclusion, someone from Jammu saw his -their- own personal interests superseding the interests of Jammu. The agitation fizzled out; and those who sabotaged it, I apologise for them! And this has happened each and every time whenever Jammu wanted to unite and fight for its rights; fight for its dignity; fight for its self- respect; fight for its lost glory and fight for the Dugger identity; but personal interests of a few overshadowed the interests of Jammu in general and the Dogras in particular.
And yes Sir, I apologise!
In the days of black and white TV, I had seen a Pakistani Drama titled Aakhri Chaattan; the story revolving round Changez Khan murdering, looting, conquering, making skull towers. A Prince very bravely tries to unite small kingdoms against the Khan, but fails. In his last fight, his desperate words were: Yeh log bedaar hi nahin hote, hum kya karen! I don’t know why it reminds me of some.
We have WhatsApp groups christened Jammu Pradesh, Jammu State, etc. We had Jammu Mukti Morcha; we also had a Political Party with Jammu at its heart, and we had many thinkers and writers and social personalities discussing seriously about having a Separate Jammu State. I apologise to all of them.
I apologise in particular to our Reverend War Veteran Major General G S Jamwal, who has been nurturing the dream of a Separate Jammu State, with dignity and honour and self -respect for the Dogras and trying to unite Jammu on this issue even at his young age of eighty plus.
General Sir, to you I apologise.