‘Darbar Pratha’ becomes an election issue in Jammu and Kashmir, know what is the 150-year-old tradition whose restoration is being promised by the parties

Assembly elections are being held in Jammu and Kashmir after 10 years. Voting will be held in three phases for the 90 assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir. All the parties are making many promises in this election. Parties like National Conference are promising the restoration of Article 370. One of these promises is the restoration of the ‘Darbar Move’ tradition.

The National Conference has promised to restore the Darbar Move in its manifesto. Altaf Bukhari’s own party’s manifesto also mentions restarting this practice.

The practice of ‘Darbar Move’ in Jammu and Kashmir is more than 150 years old. It was abolished in July 2021. Due to this practice, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir used to change in winter and summer.

What was the ‘Darbar Move’ tradition?

This was a tradition in Jammu and Kashmir for centuries. Under this, the capital of Jammu and Kashmir used to change every six months. In winters, the capital used to be Jammu, while in summers, the capital used to be Srinagar.

When the capital was changed, all the important government offices and secretariat used to be shifted from Jammu to Srinagar and from Srinagar to Jammu. When winter came, the capital was shifted from Srinagar to Jammu in the last week of October. When summer came, the capital was shifted from Jammu to Srinagar in the last week of April. That is, Srinagar used to be the capital from May to October and Jammu from November to April.

This practice of shifting the capital was called ‘Darbar Move’. During the shifting of the capital, files and goods were loaded in trucks and brought from Jammu to Srinagar and vice versa. During this, the journey had to be made through the 300 km long Srinagar-Jammu highway.

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When did this tradition start?

This practice of ‘Darbar Move’ was started in 1872. At that time Jammu and Kashmir was ruled by Dogra ruler Maharaja Ranbir Singh. It is a common belief that due to the weather, it was decided to move the Darbar from Jammu to Srinagar and from Srinagar to Jammu.

However, it is also believed that not only the weather but there was also a political reason behind this. Actually, in the 1870s, the Russian army turned towards Central Asia. The Russian army had also reached Afghanistan. The Russian army had its eyes on the Kashmir valley. Due to this fear, the British moved the court. This practice started from then.

According to the documents, an agreement was signed between the British and the Russians in 1873. After this, in 1889, the British made Kashmir a border state. For the next 35 years, Maharaja Pratap Singh of Jammu and Kashmir was the king in name only. All the decisions were taken by the British. In 1924, when the British lost their fear of the Russians, the Maharaja was given his power. However, Maharaja Pratap Singh died the very next year in 1925. After him, Maharaja Hari Singh took over the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

This practice continued even after independence. In 1957, Bakshi Ghulam Mohammad also decided to make Srinagar the permanent capital, but this was strongly opposed. Then, in 1987, when Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister, he tried to limit this practice a bit. He decided that some departments would always remain in Jammu and some in Kashmir. However, this was strongly opposed. In protest against this, Jammu remained closed for 45 days. After this, the government had to bow down.

Then why was this practice abolished?

In May 2020, the Jammu and Kashmir High Court had called the Darbar system a waste of time. The government was asked to find a permanent solution. In June 2021, the government completely stopped this practice. Now Srinagar has become the permanent capital of Jammu and Kashmir. All government offices and secretariat are in Srinagar.

One reason for ending it was also economic. Crores of rupees were spent on changing the capital twice a year. Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha had said that ending the Darbar system would save Rs 200 crore every year.

An RTI revealed that more than Rs 15,800 crore was spent on changing the capitals between 2011 and 2020. Every year more than 10 thousand employees of the Jammu and Kashmir government had to shift to Jammu and Srinagar.

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Then why did this become an election issue?

Supporters of the Darbar tradition say that this kept Jammu and Srinagar connected. Development kept happening in both the places.

Last week, former CM and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah had said that if he comes to power, he will re-implement the Darbar system. This promise has also been made in the party’s manifesto.

He said that by ending the Darbar system, the economy of Jammu has actually been crippled. The economy of Jammu was largely dependent on the government employees coming from Kashmir. They used to come here and rent houses. They used to spend a lot of money. The economy here used to be booming for six months.

Omar Abdullah had claimed that tourists do not come to Jammu anymore. He had said that tourists land at the airport. They go to Katra by car and return after visiting Vaishno Devi.

This is the reason why the promise of reintroducing the Darbar tradition is being made to garner votes in Jammu. Opposition parties are claiming that Jammu is suffering a great loss due to the end of this tradition.

When are the elections in Jammu and Kashmir?

Voting for the 90 assembly seats of Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases. Voting will be held for 24 seats in the first phase on September 18, for 26 seats in the second phase on September 25 and for 40 seats in the third phase on October 1. The election results will be declared on October 8.