‘History didn’t do justice with Maharaja Hari Singh’
Nishikant Khajuria
JAMMU, Oct 19: Scion of erstwhile Royal Dogra family and former Sadar-e-Riyasat, Dr Karan Singh today stressed that Jammu must be given its due right and there should be no hitch in granting the same after re-organization of the State into a Union Territory.
“Jammu should be given its due right and now it must be done, particularly when J&K is a Union Territory,” he said while talking to media persons during his visit at historic Raghunath Temple for paying obeisance, here today. Click here to watch video
Dr Karan Singh reminded that he too had been fighting for the cause of Jammu since 1959, which could be established from the books on contemporary developments and his exchange of letters with then Prime Ministers Jawahar Lal Nehru and Indira Gandhi.
Peeved over the treatment meted out to Maharaja Hari Singh by the previous regimes, scion of the erstwhile Royal Dogra family lamented that history did not do justice with the former.
“However, it is good that people have now started knowing about his (Hari Singh) great contributions,” he said and lauded Jammu people, particularly Yuva Rajput Sabha for their struggle to get the holiday declared on birth anniversary of the Maharaja.
Expressing his grief over the targetted killings in Kashmir, Dr Karan Singh said it was very unfortunate that such killings are taking place in independent India.
Dr Karan Singh, who is also Chairman Trustee of Jammu and Kashmir Dharmarth Trust, said that Dogra rulers were great patrons of religion and therefore harnessed spiritualism in a big way.
He said that the century long Dogra rule, which was dominated by the temperament well marked with spiritualism, succeeded in maintaining Indianness among the people of the erstwhile State of J&K especially the Duggar land which stretches from Lakhanpur to higher reaches of Pir Panjal area and Chenab Valley.
On the occasion, he inaugurated pure Silver Jhaleri on Sphatik Shivling situated in the Natraj Temple in vicinity of Raghunath Temple complex. Constructed by Dr Karan Singh, this is the only Natraj Temple in North India. The rare Sphatik Shivling for Natraj Temple was brought from Germany.
The Chairman Trustee said that the Dharmarth Trust has been working zealously to ensure that all the temples coming under its jurisdiction remain in best condition offering state of the art facilities to the devotees, who visit these religiously significant destinations from within and outside the UT besides from foreign lands to pay obeisance and seek blessings.
Later, Dr Karan Singh took a round of temple premises and also visited the Shri Ranbir Sanskrit Research Institute (RSRI) Library situated in the Temple complex. He took stock of the functioning of the library and stressed on giving due care to the Upanishads and other rare and valuable scriptures conserved in the library.
Dr Karan Singh termed the books present in the library as treasure and said that this is the part of rich heritage of not only J&K but that of the country. He directed that all the Upanishads and other rare and valuable scriptures available in the library should be digitized and converted into e-library.
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