Jammu, Sep 18: Former Dy Chief Minister Tara Chand, former Ministers Abdul MazidWani, RS Chib, ManoharLal Sharma, GhulamMohdSaroori, Jugal Kishore Sharma, ChGaru Ram, former MLAs Thakur Balwan Singh, Ashok Sharma, Mohammad Akram, former MLCs Naresh Gupta, Subash Gupta and other senior leaders Vinod Sharma, Vinod Mishra, Narinder Sharma, Maheshwar Singh, Badrinath Sharma, Ashok Bhagat, ThSuram Singh besides other leaders now part of former J&K Chief Minister GhulamNabi Azad group Sunday hailed LG Manoj Sinha for declaring holiday on birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh.
Senior leaders in a joint statement congratulated Yuva Rajput Sabha for their historical agitation and hunger strike for the case and also all those who were part of struggle to declare holiday on birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh Bahadur birthday.
They also credited GhulamNabi Azad for statue of Maharaja Hari Singh and dedicated JDA Park on the banks of river Tawi to the memory of Maharaja.
Remembering the contributions of Maharaja Hari Singh, they said that pro-people policies initiated by the Maharaja separate him from his other counterparts ruling princely states included compulsory primary education, ban on child marriage and opening places of worship for all irrespective of the caste.
They said that Maharaja Hari Singh was a patriotic, daring dignitary and dynamic personality of the Royal Family son of Raja Amar Singh.
They said the Maharaja was an epitome of good governance and had always worked for uplifting his people. They recalled rich legacy of his contributions and vision for the development of J&K state and its people. The last Maharaja of the Dogra state, who signed the instrument of accession, making Jammu and Kashmir an integral part of India, shall be always be remembered for his historical contributions in various fields. He ruled the state with great ability and farsightness and brought revolutionary social reforms.
They further said that his declaration, “As a ruler, I have no religion, all religions are mine and my religion is justice,” speaks of his qualities of head and heart and his firm belief in rule of law.
This distinguishes him from other rulers of his times in the history. Not only this, Maharaja brought about revolutionary reforms like banning child marriages, untouchability and sati systems, free and compulsory education for all and ensuring dignity and honour of women under his rule.
Maharaja opened the entry of all to Hindu religious places, irrespective of caste, creed, colour which was a great visionary step of a great reformer and true believer of humanity.
They observed that it was under his signatures that Jammu and Kashmir became a permanent and integral part of India, as he finally signed the instrument of accession of J&K state with India on October 26, 1947 after some initial delays, due to certain circumstances, but his contributions shall always be remembered in the history of freedom struggle and openly and fearlessly supporting the demand of country ‘s freedom in the first round table conference in England. He was the rare ruler to openly raise and support the demand of freedom, they added.
