Jammu: After a four-year hiatus, the Darbar opened in Jammu today. This is the first time the Darbar has been opened since 2021, when the Lieutenant Governor had stopped this practice. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah received a guard of honor at the Civil Secretariat here. The Srinagar-based secretariat was closed and has now reopened in Jammu.
In Jammu and Kashmir, the secretariat moves to Srinagar and Jammu for six months each. Documents are duly transferred from one office to another, known as the Darbar Move. The Lieutenant Governor had put a stop to this in 2021, citing the enormous cost. Omar Abdullah was welcomed by his father and National Conference President Farooq Abdullah, his cabinet colleagues, the Chief Secretary, and all the employees of the Civil Secretariat. Upon reaching the Civil Secretariat, Omar proceeded to the stage where a contingent of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and the police band welcomed him and inspected the guard of honor. Employees welcomed the Chief Minister with bouquets of flowers. In 2021, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had discontinued the Darbar Move tradition in Jammu and Kashmir, citing it as expensive and a burden on the state treasury. However, this move did not sit well with the people, especially Jammu’s traders, who had suffered losses over the years. During the election campaign and in its manifesto, the National Conference had promised to revive the Darbar Move tradition, a promise it fulfilled today.
Before reaching the Civil Secretariat, Omar Abdullah walked from Shaheed Chowk on Residency Road, just a few meters from his official residence, through Raghunath Bazaar, to Shalimar Chowk, where traders welcomed him and garlanded him for reviving the Darbar Move tradition. Traders in Raghunath Bazaar had been vocal in calling for the resumption of the tradition, as their business depended on people coming from Kashmir during the winter.
Farooq Abdullah, who was present on the occasion, welcomed the move, saying, “This is a response to those forces that wanted to divide Jammu and Kashmir.” Farooq Abdullah also criticized Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha for stopping the files of the elected government and said, ‘The Lieutenant Governor is stopping every file, due to which public welfare works are getting stalled but he cannot stop the government.’
