Jammu (Jammu and Kashmir) [India], November 3 : The 'Darbar Move' tradition, which had been deferred for the past four years in Jammu and Kashmir, was restored on Monday in the presence of Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
CM Abdullah received a warm welcome and a guard of honour in Jammu as he arrived for the 'Darbar Move' ceremony.
Abdullah also inspected the secretariat premises in Jammu following the ceremony. Meanwhile, the security was also heightened in the region in anticipation of the tradition.
J-K Deputy CM Surinder Choudhary expressed happiness and referred to the "tradition" as being associated with the legacy of the Maharaja of Jammu.
"People are happy, everyone is happy. BJP people used to say that the National Conference is anti-Jammu. Today, the Omar Abdullah government has shown that the Darbar Move, which you had stopped, has been started by the Omar Abdullah government. Now the people of Jammu have to decide whether the BJP is in their interest or the Omar Abdullah government or the National Conference is in their interest. This is the Maharaja's legacy, which we have started today, and in the true sense, we have paid tribute to Maharaja Sahab," Surinder Choudhary told ANI.
The Darbar Move refers to the biannual relocation of the secretariat and all other government offices of Jammu and Kashmir from one capital city to another. From May to October, government offices operated in the summer capital, Srinagar, while for the other six months, they functioned in the winter capital, Jammu.
In April 2021, for the first time in history, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir decided to defer it due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Earlier in December 2024, Omar Abdullah had said that the now-defunct Darbar Move would be restored.
"I don't understand why this issue did not come up during the elections. The issue of the Darbar Move started to emerge only after the elections. However, we have repeatedly assured in meetings that the Darbar Move will be restored," CM Omar had told reporters in Jammu.