For the first time in Jammu and Kashmir, people will have a public holiday on October 26, the day last Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir State singed the instrument of accession with the then Governor-General of India, Lord Mountbatten, acceding his state with Dominion of India in 1947. October 26 will be observed as Accessions Day in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as the Lt Governor G C Murmu’s administration has dropped Martyrs' Day and the birth anniversary of National Conference founder and former Chief Minister Sheikh Abdullah from its list of gazetted public holidays. Earlier, Martyrs' Day and Abdullah 's birth anniversary used to be observed as public holidays on July 13 and December 5 respectively before the state of Jammu and Kashmir was divided into two union territories. With this, the new UT of Jammu and Kashmir will have 27 public holidays instead of the previous 28 in 2020, according to a list of public holidays issued by UT’s General Administration Department on Friday. Tweeting the list of public holidays, former legislator and senior Congress leader Vikramaditya Singh, who also happens to be the grandson of Maharaja Hari Singh, congratulated the people of the UT. “From next year, 26th October, the day my grandfather Maharaja Hari Singh signed the Instrument of Accession to India will be observed as a state holiday. This is a mark of respect for the sacrifices of the J&K State Forces and the Indian Army,” he tweeted. The Martyrs' Day used to be observed in the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir in the memory of protesters killed in firing in Kashmir by the soldiers of then Dogra ruler Maharaja Hari Singh on July 13, 1931. However, it has always been a bone of contention between people of Kashmir and Jammu provinces, with latter wanting October 26 to be observed as Accession Day instead. Even after BJP formed the government in J&K with PDP in 2014, none of its party leaders ever attended the official Martyrs' Day function in Srinagar. Now, after coming into existence, the UT administration did not allow actionable conference members from holding congregational prayers at the tomb of Sheikh Abdullah on December 5. Apart from these public holidays across the UT, there will be four holidays in Kashmir province and three in Jammu in the coming year. These include Friday following Shab-I-Miraj on March 27, Mela Khir Bhawani on May 30, Urs Shah-I-Hamdan Sahib on July 28 and Urs Sheikh Noor-ud-Din Sahib on October 14 in Kashmir. In Jammu province, Lohari, Guru Ravi Dass birthday and Holi will be observed as provincial holidays on January 13, February 9 and March 9, respectively. Apart from this, various areas of the UT will also have local holidays like Mela Bahu Fort, Mahavir Jayanti and Good Friday for Jammu district only, Urs Shah Faird-Ud-Din Sahib and Sarthal Devi yatra in Kishtwar, Kailash yatra and Mela Pat in Bhaderwah and Bhalla tehsils only, besides Urs Shah Asrar-ud-Din Sahib in Kishtwar, Doda and Ramban districts.
