Jammu and Kashmir is back under the spotlight in the light of a controversy generated by the Hindi feature film The Kashmir Files. There is a Tamil Nadu connection to one of the leading political players of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah (1905-82), who founded the National Conference and ruled Jammu and Kashmir (now a Union Territory) as Prime Minister (1948-53) and Chief Minister (1975-82).
Kodaikanal, a hill station about 120 km from Madurai, played “host” to the Sheikh, also known as Sher-e-Kashmir (The Lion of Kashmir), for nearly two years, from July 1965 to June 1967. The leader was, to quote the country’s then Home Minister, G.L. Nanda, “treated as a special person” at Kohinoor Bungalow, a government-owned circuit house. The Sheikh had been jailed several times and kept at different places. But, in Kodaikanal, he was allowed to move about within the municipal limits but he could not move out of the house in Delhi, where he was kept for a few months later, “without special permission under special reasons,” said a report published by The Hindu on September 24, 1967.
