Dogra dynasty scion quits PDP over ‘divisive’ policies

Dinesh Manhotra 

Tribune News Service 

Jammu, October 22 

Upset over the “anti-Jammu” policies of the Mehbooba Mufti-led coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir, Vikramaditya Singh, the Dogra dynasty scion, today resigned from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Grandson of the last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh, he also quit as a member of the Legislative Council.  

“I was feeling suffocated in the party owing to the discriminatory and anti-Jammu policies being pursued  by the state government. It is not morally and ethically correct for me to remain in the PDP, which is ignoring the wishes and aspirations of the people of Jammu,” he told mediapersons.

He claimed that whenever he raised an issue pertaining to the Jammu region, he was snubbed by the party. 

Vikramaditya, the elder son of former Sadar-e-Riyasat and Congress stalwart Dr Karan Singh, said he had joined the PDP in 2014 because of its “secular credentials and the leadership qualities of the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.”

He said he had written twice to the then Education Minister Naeem Akthar to include the Dogra period in the state’s school textbooks. In an open letter, he had urged the CM to declare a holiday on the birth anniversary of Maharaja Hari Singh. Also, he had opposed the “illegal settlement” of the Rohingya in Jammu and introducing Kashmiri in Jammu’s degree colleges. 

Reacting to his resignation, Congress spokesman Ravinder Sharma claimed it was now clear that the PDP-BJP regime was following “anti-Jammu policies”.