The forty-four page New Kashmir manifesto adopted by Sheikh Abdullah's National Conference in 1944 has been described by the political scientist Sumantra Bose as 'the most important political document in modern Kashmir's history'. It was a radical document - indeed Abdullah described it as a 'revolutionary document' - in the form of a draft constitution for (then princely-ruled) Jammu and Kashmir ... drafted by communists and based largely on the Soviet constitution.
The content is remarkable - but let's focus for the moment on the cover design of New Kashmir when issued in English as a booklet. It's not dated, but is certainly from the 1940s - and probably the mid-1940s. The design is striking - the colour, the lettering, the image, all suggest a radical and progressive approach to politics. It is not a staid, old-fashioned type of political manifesto.
It's noteworthy that a woman was chosen as the sole person to appear in the design. She is not drawn with any great distinction. Her head is covered, and she appears to be wearing a pheran, the cloak-style garment which is a hallmark of Kashmiri dress. She is wielding the National Conference flag adopted a few years earlier - a white plough on a red background. As the British communist Rajani Palme Dutt once commented, it has more than a passing similarity to the traditional communist 'hammer and sickle' flag (the one below is the emblem of a small Indian far left party).
The content is remarkable - but let's focus for the moment on the cover design of New Kashmir when issued in English as a booklet. It's not dated, but is certainly from the 1940s - and probably the mid-1940s. The design is striking - the colour, the lettering, the image, all suggest a radical and progressive approach to politics. It is not a staid, old-fashioned type of political manifesto.
It's noteworthy that a woman was chosen as the sole person to appear in the design. She is not drawn with any great distinction. Her head is covered, and she appears to be wearing a pheran, the cloak-style garment which is a hallmark of Kashmiri dress. She is wielding the National Conference flag adopted a few years earlier - a white plough on a red background. As the British communist Rajani Palme Dutt once commented, it has more than a passing similarity to the traditional communist 'hammer and sickle' flag (the one below is the emblem of a small Indian far left party).
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In terms of derivation, the New Kashmir cover design carries an echo of Marianne, the symbol of the French Republican tradition.
Her most famous representation is in
Eugene Delacroix's renowned 1830 painting, 'Liberty Leading the People'. You can see the similarities between the two images of flag-wielding women. Did the designer of the New Kashmir cover have Marianne in mind?
Eugene Delacroix's renowned 1830 painting, 'Liberty Leading the People'. You can see the similarities between the two images of flag-wielding women. Did the designer of the New Kashmir cover have Marianne in mind?
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