Jammu and Kashmir BJP to protest non-inclusion of accession day in holiday list

SRINAGAR: Jammu and Kashmir government’s announcement of holiday list for 2016 has irked the coalition partner BJP for non-inclusion of October 26 in the list. BJP had demanded to include October 26, the day when Dogra ruler Hari Singh executed instrument of accession with the government of India in 1947, in the list.

People’s Demcratic Party maintains that they have no reservations about this date but the decision to announce a holiday could be "deferred for now".

BJP’s top most representative in the state government, deputy chief minister Nirmal Singh said the party will lodge a ‘strong protest’ with CM Mufti Muhammad Sayeed over the issue.

"Our demand remains the same and we will lodge a protest with the CM. We are hopeful that the holiday would be declared on the historic day," Singh told reporters on sidelines of a press meet in Jammu.

Earlier this year, BJP ministers and assembly members skipped a government function on July 13, officially celebrated as martyrs day, in remembrance of people who were killed for opposing the Dogra rule in the state in 1931. Since the formation of BJP-PDP coalition government, the ideological questions of Article 370, beef ban and the official position on erstwhile Dogra rule continues to test the bonds between the two political partners. "October 26 should be celebrated as a festival across the state. It used to be so, when Bakshi Ghulam Muhammad ruled the state," state secretary of BJP Ashol Kaul told ET.

At the instance of Hurriyat Conference October 26 is observed as ‘black day’ across Kashmir and state governments for many years impose curfew to avoid any protest rallies on this day.