JKPCC remembers Maharaja Hari Singh, criticises state’s downgrade to UT

Jammu, Sep 23: The Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) on Tuesday, while paying rich tributes to Maharaja Hari Singh on his 130th birth anniversary, accused the BJP of insulting him (Maharaja) by downgrading the J&K state into a Union Territory.

The party remembered Maharaja’s visionary and progressive rule and pledged to intensify the movement for the restoration of his (Maharaja’s) full state (of J&K).

A team of senior Congress leaders led by former minister and working president Raman Bhalla, chief spokesperson and ex-MLC Ravinder Sharma, and ex-MLC Ved Mahajan visited Maharaja Hari Singh’s statue at Tawi Bridge. They garlanded the statue and joined the celebrations there.

Suresh Dogra, ex-general secretary of the PCC; ex-chief whip and former JMC Congress corporator Dwarka Choudhary; JKPCC spokesperson Kapil Singh; and chief media coordinator Neeraj Gupta, among others, also joined them.

Speaking on the occasion, Bhalla said that Maharaja Hari Singh was a visionary and progressive ruler who brought several social reforms through his rule. He was a true patriot and told Britishers to leave India, the former minister said.

“Maharaja brought landmark legislation to protect the land, jobs and natural resources of J&K, being a hilly tourist state, and enacted state subject laws. This shows his farsightedness.