The story of the turbulent years of Kashmir. \n‘Geography, it has been suggested in certain influential quarters, will no doubt play a great part in\ndetermining the course which states would follow. Due to the proposed division of Punjab, it is therefore\npermissible to argue that Kashmir will find itself geographically isolated from the rest of India. Powerful\ninfluences may also develop which will tend to draw Kashmir to the new alignment of forces within\nareas adjacent to it. But considering the temperament and character of the people of the state and\nthe policy and outlook of the National Conference, it can safely be assumed that under the stress of\ndisintegrating forces, Kashmir would tend to develop progressive nationalism and a political life of its\nown rather than join any unhappy combination in the areas adjacent to it.’ \n— D.N. KACHRU , Private Secretary to Jawaharlal Nehru (1947) \nIn a powerful third part to his Kashmir trilogy, Sandeep Bamzai’s latest potboiler, The Gilded Cage,\ndocuments the contentious years that resulted in the making and unmaking of the ‘Kashmir issue’.\nFrom the emergence of Sheikh Abdullah in Kashmir’s politics up to his arrest to the disillusionment\nof the Kashmiri masses from their leadership, Kashmir turned into a caged match, a diabolical kill\nbox where Pakistan’s attempts to mask the scent of the snare has and is creating consternation in the\nValley. From Jinnah’s naked obsession for Kashmir to Sheikh Abdullah’s staunch hatred for Jinnah,\nfrom Jawaharlal Nehru’s comprehension of the Valley being a shop window for his brand of secular\npolitics to Maharaja Hari Singh’s streak of remaining independent in the face of both India and\nPakistan, this book covers the vital years that defined Kashmir’s accession to India. \nAccessing letters, files and documents never produced earlier in the public domain, Bamzai travels\nthe duplicitous and often-tortuous path of history to bring to light the equally treacherous history\nof Kashmir.