Dogra’s Heckle Nirmal Singh

Jammu—Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh was on Saturday heckled by Dogra community members over the state government’s “failure” to declare Maharaja Hari Singh’s birth anniversary as a state holiday.

The deputy chief minister was speaking at a function after paying floral tributes to Maharaja, the last Hindu ruler of the state, on his birth anniversary on Saturday.

Scores of people, including youths wearing black T-shirts and carrying saffron flags, raised slogans against Singh and the PDP-BJP coalition government in Jammu and Kashmir. The protesters gheroed Singh and some of them heckled him.

The minister had to cut short his speech and was escorted out by a large contingent of police. The protesters also demanded the minister’s resignation and accused the BJP of doing “dis-service” to the Jammu region.

“BJP has done dis-service to Jammu, which gave them 25 seats. They have failed to address one of the major aspirations of the Dogras. Despite passage of a resolution, the BJP could not facilitate a holiday on Maharaja’s birthday. It is a shame,” Sumit Singh, one of the protestors, said.

The Dogra community members also blocked the deputy CM’s cavalcade. The city saw dozens of pro-Maharaja rallies today.