The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLAs staged a walkout from the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Tuesday in protest against the remarks by ruling National Conference (NC) MLAs over the holiday declared on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh.

SRINAGAR: The birth anniversaries of J&K’s last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh and National Conference founder Sheikh Mohammad Abdullah were the subjects of a heated debate in the assembly Tuesday, as a demand was raised that either both days should be marked as public holidays or none.NC member Abdul Majeed Larmi demanded that Hari Singh’s birth anniversary on Sept 23 be withdrawn from the list of public holidays or else, the holiday on Sheikh Abdullah’s anniversary on Dec 5 be restored.BJP members vehemently objected to the suggestion for cancellation of the holiday on the former maharaja’s birthday. Congress supported NC’s demand for restoring the public holiday on Sheikh Abdullah’s birth anniversary, while favouring retaining the holiday for Hari Singh. PDP MLAs Waheed Para and Aga Muntazir Mehdi joined the exchange and raised the issue of restoring the July 13 holiday commemorating the killing of 22 Kashmiris outside Srinagar jail during a protest against the Dogra ruler in 1931.The speaker later said he did not have the authority to grant or withdraw govt holidays. In Jan 2020, the J&K administration had removed July 13 and Dec 5 from the list of public holidays, while Sept 23 was added to the list in 2022.