Who Moved My Durbar?

The restoration of the Durbar Move has emerged as one of the important poll issues in Jammu

- Ashwani Sharma

VED Prakash Gupta, 85, set up his cloth shop in City Chowk in the heart of Jammu in 1965. His business has always flourished, thanks to the strategic location of the shop—just a kilometre away from the Civil Secretariat in Jammu, which until 2021 used to serve as the winter capital.

The tradition of the bi-annual shift of the secretariat and all other government offices between Jammu and Srinagar—the summer capital—was termed as the Durbar Move. The practice—initiated by Maharaja Ranbir Singh—lasted from 1872—until 2021, when it was abolished by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha due to the pandemic. It was decided to keep both the capitals functional. After all, the cost of shifting between two cities was humongous.

The move dealt a blow to the businesses established around the Secretariat. Due to the presence of the ‘durbar’ and the regular movement of Kashmiri families, that used to stay in town for six months, everyone was making profits. But now things seem to have changed for the business community in Jammu. People, in fact, claim that the end of Durbar Move has impacted them more than the Abrogation of Article 370.

In this assembly elections, political parties have been promising to restore the Durbar Move.

The state of dwindling businesses could be seen as one takes a stroll across the deserted Raghunath Bazaar. Mukesh Gupta, 50, the owner of the Gupta Cloth House, says: “Until 2021, we barely had a moment to relax during business hours. We often had no time to eat lunch. The rush of customers was sometimes completely unmanageable, draining us by evening. Today, we sit idle the whole day. It has impacted our bank balance, and we are forced to borrow money.” He feels the Durbar Move served as a bridge uniting Kashmir and Jammu. “It helped weave together two distinct cultures, fostering a spirit of brotherhood that echoed through the Valley and the Jammu city,” he says.