Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 15: Calling upon the State Govt to implement the resolution adopted by the State Legislative Council in letter and spirit regarding the announcement of September 23 as Gazetted holiday on Maharaja Hari Singh’s birthday, a large number of NPP activists spearheaded by party chairman Harsh Dev Singh and other leaders staged a protest demonstration at Exhibition Ground here today.
While addressing the media, Harsh Dev described Maharaja Hari Singh as an enlightened secular ruler who after ascending the throne of Jammu & Kashmir in 1925 said that, “I have no religion, my religion is justice”. Singh eulogized the Dogra ruler of being one of the greatest Indian patriots who had dared to challenge the British Crown in 1931 at Round Table Confer-ence in London declaring that, “I am an Indian first and then a Maharaja”.
Praising the revered King who was a lineage of Dogra rulers well known for extending the northern frontier of India, Harsh said that Maharaja shall always be remembered for signing the historic Instrument of Accession on October 26, 1947 by virtue of which the State of J&K was integrated with the rest of India. He said it was due to the far sightedness of the Maharaja that Kashmir was liberated from the clutches of ‘Kabailis’ and nefarious design of Pakistan to forcefully occupy the Valley was successfully thwarted. While recalling the legendary role of the late ruler, Singh divulged that the sagacious ruler earned worldwide acclaims for taking large number of social welfare measures like abolition of beggar (forced labour), women empowerment, alleviation of racial discrimination and brought about progressive reforms in the fields of Judiciary, Education, Finance, etc. “He made primary education compulsory in the State, built colleges, introduced laws prohibiting child marriage and opened places of worship to the low castes”, Harsh emphasized.
Deploring the justification of Naeem Akhtar opposing the resolution in the Legislative Council during January session as sacrilegious to Dogra cult, Singh regretted that if July 13 could be observed as State holiday then why the same was not observed on Maharaja’s birthday whose mammoth contributions and achievements made millions of people proud to call themselves as “Indians”.
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