Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 5: Calling upon the State Govt to honour the resolution adopted by the J&K Legislative Council regarding declaration of September 23 as a State holiday, JKNPP chairman and former minister Harsh Dev Singh cautioned that any dilly dally on the subject could have serious ramifications.
Describing Maharaja Hari Singh as the most progressive ruler of princely state of India, he said that observing his birthday as State holiday would be a befitting tribute to the legendary ruler which was long overdue. He said that it was ironical that July 13 was being observed as a State holiday but September 23 was ignored thus disregarding the monumental contributions of the Maharaja who gave millions of nationalist people of the State the greatest satisfaction of calling themselves as proud Indians.
Strongly condemning the opposition to the resolution by some ministers representing the BJP-PDP Govt, in the Legislative Council, Singh said that the justification given by the said ministers for opposing the resolution that it would affect the delivery of public services was as ludicrous as it was ill conceived, insensible. He said that if Sheikh Abdullah’s birthday could be observed as State holiday, it was sheer profanity to deny the same on Maharaja’s birthday who took the historic decision of acceding J&K to the union of India by executing the Instrument of Accession.
Reminding the protagonists of the anti- Maharaja movement of the historic role of the late ruler, Singh said it was the tallest princely ruler of J&K who defeated the game plan of Pakistan of grabbing J&K. He said that Maharaja Hari Singh earned world wide acclaim for his progressive reforms in the fields of Judiciary, Education, Revenue, Finance etc. He was the pioneer of modern democracy and further introduced several social reforms for improving the status of women fold and removing discrimination on the basis of caste, creed and colour, added Singh while strongly advocating the implementation of the LC resolution.
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