Jammu and Kashmir observes holiday on the birth anniversary of Dogra monarch Maharaja Hari Singh


Maharaja Hari Singh: After 75 years, Jammu and Kashmir observed a holiday on the birth anniversary of Dogra monarch Maharaja Hari Singh on September 23.

This is for the first time in independent India, that Maharaja Hari Singh, the last Dogra monarch is being celebrated as a public holiday in Jammu and Kashmir.

Key Points:

  • According to a notification issued by General Administration Department (GAD) " 23rd of September every year would be observed as a holiday in government offices and educational institutions across the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir under the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, to commemorate the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh ji.
  • The Lieutenant Governor’s (L-G) administration made an announced regarding the decision following his meeting with a delegation comprising of prominent political leaders, members of the Yuva Rajput Sabha, civil society members, including head of J&K transport union.
  • He said that his decision was taken in view of the contributions of the late Maharaja.

History:

  • Maharaja Hari Singh (1895 – 1961)   was born on September 23, 1895.
  • He was the last ruling Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir.
  • He was a great educationist, progressive thinker, social reformer and a towering man of ideas and ideals.
  • It was the then Maharaja Hari Singh who had signed the Instrument of Accession of the Instrument of Accession of and raiders attacked the state.
  • When the British formally left on August 15, 1947, Maharaja Hari Singh, who was a Hindu ruler of a Muslim-majority state, wanted his state to remain independent and thus had a standstill agreement with both India and Pakistan.
  • However, in the wake of an invasion by tribal raiders backed by Pakistan, Hari Singh fled Kashmir and signed an Instrument of Accession with India on October 26, 1947.
  • He later lived in exile in Mumbai, where he died in 1961.
  • Even after the accession, the state had its own constitution, flag and the penal code, Ranbir Penal Code (ROC), named after one of Hari Singh's predecessors, Ranbir Singh.
  • The state subject law, which defined permanent residents of Jammu and Kashmir and barred outsiders from owning land, was another defining legacy of Maharaja Hari Singh.
  • All this was abolished when Article 370 was revoked in August 2019.

Background:

  • The demand of the Dogras of the region have been fullfiled after 72 years.
  • On August 26, 2022, the former Member of Jammu and Kashmir and scion of erstwhile Royal Dogra family, Vikramaditya Singh urged the Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to announce a public holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh.
  • He also wrote to Rajnath Singh, the then Home Minister of India through his letter on July 15, 2018 in this regard.
  • On January 24, 2017, the Legislative Council (Upper House) of erstwhile state Jammu and Kashmir had passed a resolution to declare his birthday, September 23, as a State holiday.
  • However, despite the resolution being passed in the Legislative Council of erstwhile J&K State, it was denied by the then State Government.
  • Then again on September 22, 2017 the Jammu Municipal Corporation (JMC) also has passed a resolution to declare the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh on September 23 as State holiday.


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