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DSS pays tributes to Father of the nation, Recalls Lal Bahadur Shastri & DSS Founder Lala Hans Raj Mahajan
The Dogra Sadar Sabha (DSS) under their president Th. Guchain Singh Charak with members of the core group expressed their reverence to father of the nation on 150th anniversary of the Mahatma Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri at Sabha Bhawan, Dogra hall, Jammu.
DSS also celebrated the 153rd birth anniversary of their founder Lala Hans Raj Mahajan who was also born on 2nd October in the year 1866 at Hamirpur Sidhar, Tehsil Akhnoor District Jammu in a well known family in the house of Lala Harish Chand Mahajan.
He was an outstanding leader of that phase of Jammu’s history. He pioneered formation of associations of various communities like the Mahajan Sabha and the Rajput Sabha as also of the Anjuman-i-Islamia and ensured their mutual cooperation in social reforms. The most prominent and effective among them is the first secular and non-political and democratic organization of the state, Dogra Sadar Sabha (DSS) established in 1904.
The educated elite among various social groups of the state joined this organization with the objectives of socio-economic and political amelioration of the people. It played a significant role in ushering wave of the modernization in the state.
The Sabha was a product of the awakening among the educated youth and the rational thinking people. Its formation marked the beginning of a new era in the socio-economic and political history of the state. One of the greatest significance of the Dogra Sadar Sabha was its secular character. Its members belonged to all the prominent social and religious groups of the state. The people from all the sections of the society such as the Hindus, the Muslims, the Sikhs, and Christians came over a common platform. This also reflects the tradition of broad mindedness, tolerance and the accommodating nature of the Dogras of the Jammu region, where a secular organization came into existence at such an early stage.
Lala Hans Raj Mahajan dominated the entire social reform movement in Jammu region for half a century from 1892, when he entered public life, to 1944 when he died. His field of work included campaign for Swadeshi, rights of women, spread of education, economic betterment of backward areas, reform in ceremonies observed at marriage, death and other social occasions, help to widows and orphans cow protection, cleanliness and redress of grievances against omissions and commissions of administration. These activities were vital landmarks for of the national freedom movement. Lala Hans Raj started first two monthly newspapers in the state named the Dogra Gazette and The Mahajan Niti Patar in 1907. The Dogra Gazette got re-incarnated as Dogra Herald and is still in publication.
The Core Group members strongly felt that the historians have done great injustice to the Dogra race by not projecting the true Dogra achievements in various fields, their accommodative amicability, valour, sacrifices and the secular ethos. It was resolved to constitute a committee under Col Dr Virendra K Sahi, VrC who would engage experienced historians in consultation with Prof Anita Billowria to take on re-writing factual history of Dogras as race and bring out their exploits in the Social, Socio-economical, historical battles to current warfare and administrative fields besides art and culture.
Prominent among those who joined the celebration were Sh. Prem Sagar Gupta, Brig M. S. Jamwal, Maj. Gen Goverdhan Singh Jamwal AVSM, Col. Dr Virendra K. Sahi, VrC, Santosh Magotra, Chhankar Singh, Amanat Ali Shah, Qadir Hussain, Raj Kumar Sharma, Ravi Singh, Sandeep Sharma, Surinder Gupta, Krishan Singh Manhas, Ankush Gupta, Mohinder Singh, Karan Singh, Mangal Dass Dogra, Ashok Gupta, Rajinder Gupta, Madan Lal Bhagat, Girdhari Lal Sharma, Narinder Singh Jamwal, and Ramesh Kapoor.
Sd/-
Vidya Sagar Sharma
Secretary, DSS
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