The Jammu and Kashmir administration has decided to declare Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary a public holiday. A notification in this regard will be issued soon.
The announcement was made by lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha following his meeting with a delegation comprising prominent political leaders, members of the Yuva Rajput Sabha, civil society members, including head of J&K transport union, at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday evening.
“The government has taken a decision to declare Maharaja Hari Singh Ji’s birthday as a public holiday. Maharaja Hari Singh was a great educationist, progressive thinker, social reformer and a towering man of ideas and ideals. The public holiday will be a fitting tribute to Maharaja Hari Singh Ji’s rich legacy,” the LG observed.
Pertinently, on the directions of LG, a four-member committee was constituted by the UT administration earlier this year to examine the public demand regarding holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh.
Prominent political leaders including Member Parliament Jugal Kishore Sharma; former Dy CM, Dr Nirmal Singh; Devender Rana, Sat Sharma; Ajit Singh, president, All J&K Transport Union; Rajan Singh, president, Yuva Rajput Sabha and members of Yuva Rajput Sabha were present on the occasion.
Earlier, visibly elated BJP leaders from Jammu and Kashmir and Yuva Rajput Sabha president Rajan Singh Happy expressed their gratitude to the home minister Amit Shah, BJP’s central leadership and J&K lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha for conceding a long pending demand of the people of Jammu region to announce public holiday on the birth anniversary of last Dogra king Maharaja Hari Singh.
The birth anniversary of the visionary ruler falls on September 23.
The senior BJP leaders including former deputy chief minister Dr Nirmal Singh, former legislator Devender Singh Rana, former minister Sat Sharma, BJP MP Jugal Kishore beside other leaders met the LG at Raj Bhavan here this evening.
“We had a very cordial meeting with the LG, who principally agreed upon public holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Bahadur on September 23. The LG assured us that a notification will soon be published,” Dr Nirmal Singh told reporters after coming out of the Raj Bhawan.
“I congratulate the people of J&K, especially people of Duggar Pradesh and the people of India because a demand pending for the past 72 years has been finally fulfilled. Maharaja Hari Singh JI was instrumental in accession of J&K with the republic of India on 26 October in 1947”, he added.
Dr Singh said, “He was a big social reformer. Today is an auspicious day for all of us”.
Former legislator Devender Singh Rana said, “We express our gratitude to the home minister and LG, who have always heard the voice of the people. I congratulate the people. The LG has assured us that a notification of the public holiday shall be published in the government gazette before September 23.”
Rana reminded that BJP was the first to project this demand of the people in the legislative assembly where it had passed a resolution.
“It was in the BJP agenda. Since for the first time there is a BJP government at the Centre and LG’s administration in J&K, the demand has been conceded,” he said and added that “other political parties were opposed to it.”
Yuva Rajput Sabha president Rajan Singh Happy expressed gratitude to the media of Jammu, Dogras, various social, religious, political and trade organizations, which supported them in their agitation.
“Today is the real independence of Jammu and today real tributes have been paid to Maharaja Hari Singh ji. I express my gratitude to the local deity Bawe Wali Mata, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians of Jammu, who joined hands for the common cause,” he said.
On September 10, Dr Karan Singh–veteran Congress leader and son of Maharaja Hari Singh endorsed the demand of locals.
In a letter to the LG administration Dr Karan Singh had urged the J&K UT administration to accept the demand of the youth of Jammu, who were agitating for the cause for many days over this issue.
“I understand that the agitation is on hold for a few days. I would urge the UT government to reconsider the whole matter and accept the demand which will be widely appreciated not only by the youths of Jammu but by citizens of the state in general,” Singh had said.
He had said that continued agitation and disruption of normal life was not desirable in the highly sensitive border region of Jammu.
On September 12 Rajan Singh Happy had said that if the administration failed to declare holiday before September 23 then youth of Jammu will resort to an Amarnath like agitation of 2008.
It may be stated here that during the recent agitation, the youth led by Yuva Rajput Sabha were brutally cane-charged on Tawi Bridge, which had fuelled anger among the people of Jammu.