To declare 26 October a gazetted holiday or not? The question is loaded with political implications in Jammu and Kashmir. It has set Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on a collision course with the BJP, his party’s alliance partner in the state. On 26 October, 1947, the then ruler of the state, Maharaja Hari Singh, had signed the Instrument of Accession to make Kashmir part of India. Before partition, Kashmir was an independent princely state. Soon after India’s independence, it got plagued by invasions led by Pathan tribesmen, forcing its…
Read MoreBJP’s demand to declare Accession Day a holiday lands PDP in a fix
