Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Mar 16: Jammu Province Peoples’ Forum, (JPPF) an amalgam of more than 50 non-political organizations today celebrated the Raising Day of J&K State, near the statue of Maharaja Hari Singh at Tawi bridge here.
Addressing the gathering, president JPPF Pavittar Singh Bhardwaj said that it was the auspicious day of March 16, 1846 that the Kashmir province was included with Jammu by Maharaja Gulab Singh against the payment of Rs 75 lakh to the British Empire, who accepted and recognized Maharaja Gulab Singh as the ruler of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Maharaja Gulab Singh was the founder of Royal Dogra dynasty and head of Princely State of J&K, the second largest princely State in British India, he said, adding that it was the JPPF which pioneered the celebration of the Raising Day of the State and is continuing to celebrate the historical event every year on this day.
He said that the common man is ignorant about the history of the State as the elected successive Governments deliberately ignored historic day March 16 for their own vested reasons as the State Government was always dominated by Kashmiri rulers who remained reluctant to decimate the regime of Dogra rulers.
Maharaja Gulab Singh was a warrior with a soft corner for all religions and wanted to maintain and promote a secular character of his State, he said. This was the reason, he took a lot of interest to annex Kashmir, which was the land of Sufi saints inhabited Muslims, Pandits, Sikhs and other religions, he added.
Pavittar Singh appealed the public to celebrate the Raising Day of the State as a mark of respect to the first ruler and founder of the Jammu and Kashmir State as a whole. He advised celebrations should be made at district, teshil and block level in the entire State by hoisting Tricolour and distribution of sweets to strengthen secularism, democracy, unity, nationalism, amity and brotherhood in the society.
Besides, working president JPPF, M.S Katoch, the function was attended by Rajiv Mahajan, lnderjeet Khejuria, Naryan Singh, Neeraj Gupta, Avinash Bhatia, M.L Sharma, R.S Jamwal, Rajinder, Sunita Sharma, Kamla Sharma, Kamal Choudhary, Pawan Sharma, Pritam Sharma, Gurmeet Singh, Rashpal Singh, Surinder Veer, Harjinder Singh, Devinder Singh Salathia, Prof O.P Sharma, R.L Tandon, Balwan Singh, Pawan Gupta, Prof Darshan Singh Bhatia, Prof B.L Bhardwaj, Ram Rattan Sharma and Kulbir Singh Slathia.
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