Maharaja's Autocratic Rule Was Far Better In J&K: Ghulam Nabi Azad's No-Holds-Barred Attack On BJP

Darbar Move was the name given to the bi-annual shift of the secretariat and all other government offices of Jammu and Kashmir from one capital city to another.

Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad. (File Photo/ AFP)

Jammu: Launching a frontal attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad has said the Maharajas’ autocratic rule was far better than the current regime, which stopped the traditional practice of the biannual ‘Darbar Move’.

“I was always supportive of the Darbar Move. The Maharajas gave us three things which were in the interest of the public of both Kashmir and Jammu regions, and one of them was the Darbar Move,” Azad said.

Darbar Move was the name given to the bi-annual shift of the secretariat and all other government offices of Jammu and Kashmir from one capital city to another.

From May to October, the governmental offices were housed in the summer capital Srinagar and the other six months in Jammu. The tradition was started during the rule of Maharaja Ranbir Singh in 1872.

Continuing his diatribe, the Congress leader said the Maharaja ensured protection of land and jobs from the people, who were not from the region.

“Today after so many years, we see the maharaja who used to be called a dictator was much better than the present government,” Azad told reporters here, PTI reported.

Referring to the abrogation of Article 370, he added: “The actions of the maharaja were for the welfare of the public, while the present government has taken away all the three things - the Darbar Move, protection of land and jobs - from us.”

Asserting the people are heading towards poverty, Azad said there is a slump in business and developmental activities in Jammu and Kashmir for the last two and a half years.

“People are anguished as there are no businesses, no jobs. Prices are high and developmental works have come to standstill,” Azad said.

“I was of the opinion that people in cities are happy. Ragunath Bazar, City Chowk, and Kanak Mandi (in Jammu) represent the pulse of the whole business community. Every shop I visited, I found that people are disappointed because business is down for the past five years,” he added.