- Terms the revolt against Dogra Maharaja as conspiracy hatched by Britishers
- Call for ending the practice of observing July 13 as official holiday
For the third year in a row, PDP’s alliance partner BJP skipped the official function held for paying homage to the martyrs of the 1931 massacre.
In a statement, State BJP spokesperson, Virender Gupta said: “July 13, 1931 was the most controversial event that spurred Muslim communal politics in Jammu and Kashmir while sidelining the ethos of Sufism in the Valley and thus cannot be celebrated as Martyrs Day.”
“It hurts the sentiments of the majority of the people and divides the society on communal lines.”
He added that the event cannot be termed as the beginning of struggle against autocracy and for democracy, equality and liberty in the state.
“The unfortunate event started from the protest of the mob that broke open the jail, got set free some Muslims against whom the charges of sedition were levelled, that they were involved in unlawful activities, instigating a revolt against the Hindu Maharaja and for the establishment of Muslim rule. The prominent among them was a non-state subject Muslim, Abdul Qadir who was a cook with an English man. The mob while coming out on streets of the Valley attacked the shops and houses of Kashmiri Pandits and other Hindus, killing three Hindus and inflicting injuries on hundreds,” said Gupta.
“Riots also broke out in other parts of the state, where Muslims were in majority. Can it be called as beginning of Kashmiris’ resistance movement or a movement for the protection of human rights and of sacrifice for rich values? The event was result of conspiracy of Britishers against Maharaja who in Round Table Conference of 1930 forcefully advocated independence of India and also boasted of communal harmony in his state. Britishers did not digest the statements of Maharaja and they instigated revolt against him and created communal disturbances in the State,” he added.
The BJP spokesperson added that it was a day in the background of which the Muslim Conference founded by Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah started it journey of revolt against Hindu Maharaja and Hindu community in general. “Celebrating the day as Martyrs’ Day officially is questionable.”
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader, Chander Mohan Sharma called for ending the practice of observing July 13 as Martyrs Day as State holiday.
Addressing reporters here, he said: “It is a mockery of history wherein villains are being glorified as martyrs. Truth must prevail. Whole world knows that incident of 13 July in Srinagar was an outcome of a conspiracy hatched by Britishers against Maharaja for his refusal to handover Gilgit agency to Britshers. Abdul Qadir, a Muslim from Rawalpindi was assigned play the role of inciting the communal passions amongst the Kashmiri Muslims. Shiekh Abdullah joined the conspiracy. As a result there was a mass attempt of jail break to get Abdul Qadir freed from the course of law.”
“Celebration of so-called martyrs day has given rise to fundamentalism and separatism. I call upon Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti to come out to abolish this unhealthy practice to follow the footsteps of her visionary father who had adopted nation as a whole as his political constituency and not limited himself into the narrow politics of Kashmir valley only,” he said.
The BJP ministers’ conspicuous absence from the wreath laying ceremony at the graveyard of the 1931 martyrs, a gazetted holiday of the state, has sparked a political controversy with the opposition National Conference (NC) up in arms.
Last year, PDP had termed the BJP move as “inappropriate.” “To attend the official function to pay respects to the martyrs was an obligation that the Ministers ought to have fulfilled and any deviation from such a precedent was inappropriate. The martyrs belonged to the state and not to any particular religion, region, caste or creed and their sacrifices must not be forgotten or belittled,” PDP spokesperson Mehboob Beg had said.
