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| In 2004, too, government curtailed Amarnath yatra period | | Flawed Arguments | | Neha
JAMMU, May 11: In 2004, a rare event took place. That year, in the month of Shravana, three Poornimas were to occur and the first Poornima was on July 2. Several religious organizations and social groups urged the Shrine Board as well as the State Government to extend the period of pilgrimage from July 2 to August 30 (day of the Rakhsa Bandhan Poornima) considering the significance of the event. The Shrine Board took no time in accepting the suggestion taking into consideration the religious sensitivities of the people and decided to enhance the pilgrimage duration. It announced that the pilgrimage would commence on July 2. It also announced that while the Baltal route would remain open for the pilgrims from July 2 to August 30, the Pahalgam route would be thrown open only from August 1. The Shrine Board sent a communication to the government to this effect immediately so that it could start making arrangements for the security of the pilgrims and other related matters.
The Chief Minister opposed the suggestion and insisted that the duration of pilgrimage should not exceed one month, as was the case before. He opposed the Board's decision on the grounds that the extension in the duration of pilgrimage would mean keeping the security forces deployed in strength along the route to the cave and base camps for such a long period and that "it was not advisable from the security point of view."
The arguments of the Chief Minister were untenable and all the more because he, along with a few of his colleagues in the ministry and some senior bureaucrats, had earlier extensively toured several countries in order to induce foreigners to visit the salubrious Kashmir. Everywhere he talked of the improved security scenario in Kashmir. His government had not only strove to attract tourists from foreign countries, but also from all over India. His stated objective was to promote international and domestic tourism and enrich the Kashmir's economy, as also to meet the needs and urges of those engaged in tourism industry in the Valley.
The opposition of the State Government to the proposal of the Shrine Board had created a sort of furore in Jammu and other parts of the country. A number of Hindu religious groups and political parties like the BJP had organized protest demonstrations. One of the organizations Punjab Shiv Sewa Samiti (SSS), Rajpura, (District Patiala), had even approached the Jammu and Kashmir High Court on July 13, 2004. The president of Punjab SSS, Ram Pal Bathonia, himself an advocate, had urged the High Court to direct the State Government not to interfere with the Shrine Board's decisions, including its decision to acquire more land for creating facilities for the pilgrims, start helicopter service and create air-condition facilities at the cave to increase the longevity of the ice lingam.
The Shrine Board and its chairman had stuck to their stand. The Governor had said that the expansion in the scope and duration of the pilgrimage had become imperative in view of the special circumstances. He had also expressed the view that the manifold increase in the number of devotees and the extension in the duration of the pilgrimage would heighten the process of national integration and improve the state's economic health.
The conflict between him and the Chief Minister had created a peculiar situation in the state. The people of Jammu province and several political and Hindu organizations, including the BJP, the VHP, the Bajrang Dal, the Shiv Sena and the RSS, had stood solidly behind the State Governor. They repeatedly accused the Chief Minister of "outraging the Hindu sentiments" and "vitiating" the Amarnath pilgrimage. They had threatened massive protests. Their unstinted support to the Governor and bitter opposition to the State Government had created an awkward position for the Congress, whose core constituency was Jammu. Almost all the Jammu-based Congress ministers had opposed the Mufti line and openly made common cause with those supporting the Governor's decision.
The situation reached a climax when two young ministers, Raman Bhalla and Yogesh Sawhney, threatened to resign from the ministry. Both Bhalla and Sawhney and several other Jammu-based Congress leaders had rushed to Delhi and urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi to ask the Chief Minister not to oppose the Governor's decision. They were mortally afraid of the fact that the acceptance of the Chief Minister's views would erode their party's support-base in Jammu and help the BJP consolidate and expand its constituency in the region. In the meantime, the parties like the BJP had upped the ante at the national level, thus motivating the Union Government to intervene in the matter and break the deadlock between the Governor and the Chief Minister.
The pressure exerted by the Jammu-based Congress ministers and legislators and the possibility of serious political explosions in Jammu and elsewhere over this sensitive issue had left the Central leadership and the Union Government with no option but to intervene in the matter and amicably resolve the controversy. The Central Government assigned this task to the Union Parliamentary Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad. A compromise formula was suggested. According to the formula, the duration of the pilgrimage would be neither two months nor one month but it would be forty-five days. A meeting between the Governor and the Chief Minister was arranged. Both of them accepted the formula on June 29. In fact, they issued a joint statement to this effect that day. The Governor felt satisfied because the Shrine Board succeeded in extending the pilgrimage period from one month to at least 45 days. The Chief Minister also felt vindicated because he succeeded in curtailing the pilgrimage duration from the proposed two months to 45 days.
The Governor took the opportunity to thank religious leaders like Mahant Deependra Giri, head of Dashnami Akhara and Mahanat Chhari Mubarak (holy mace), who had accepted the "agreed arrangements for the ritual commencement of the yatra (pilgrimage)". (Deependra Giri of Amritsar is the custodian of the holy mace of Lord Shiva.) Knowing full well that the devotees had not taken this agreement kindly, the Governor appealed to them and the agitating people in Jammu and elsewhere in India "not to press with their agitation". He asked everyone concerned to "observe the solemnity of the occasion without any further controversy or agitation". His appeal produced the desired result and the pilgrimage started with great pomp and show on July 15, 2004. Over four lakh devotees visited the Amarnath cave. It created a new record.
The difference this time is that it is the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB), which is headed by Governor N N Vohra, whose decision to curtail the duration of the Shri Amarnath Yatras has brought the SASB and the Shri Amarnath Yatri Nyas (SAYN) face to face with each other. The controversy needs to be resolved forthwith and it can be resolved provided the State Governor is willing to extend the yatra period for a period of two months. |
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