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| Shrine Board's rigidity likely to provoke explosions in Jammu | | Amarnath yatra row | | RUSTAM
JAMMU, May 22: The BJP, Bajrang Dal, VHP, Bahujan Samaj Party and Panthers Party, almost all the religious and cultural organizations in and outside the State and ardent devotees of Lord Shiva are seething with anger. The reason is that the Governor, N N Vohra-controlled Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) has "unilaterally" reduced the duration of Amarnath yatra from 60 to 39 days, notwithstanding the fact that neither the NC-Congress coalition government nor even the Kashmiri extremists have demanded reduction in the yatra period.
Significantly, the Gujjar Muslims have also joined the crusade against the Shrine Board by holding a press conference and asking the controversial Governor to respect the religious sentiments of the Hindus in general and devotees of Lord Shiva in particular and fix the period of yatra as per the demand being made by the Hindu organizations. Almost all the organizations have termed the decision of the Shrine Board as an interference in the religious affairs of the Hindus and warned in unambiguous terms that any failure on the part of the Governor to see reason would only provoke the people to replicate 2008 in 2012 or create a situation under which the Congress-led government had then collapsed like a house of cards. So much so, many a Jammu-watcher have come to believe that the Shrine Board's rigid stand on the otherwise controversial decision on the duration of the yatra might provoke in Jammu religious explosions of portentous dimension leading to the collapse of the present NC-led coalition government, or at least creating a serious law and problem in Jammu. Unfortunately, the protests and press conferences in Jammu and the demand of the BJP, which was made in the Rajya Sabha only a couple of days ago that there should be no reduction in the yatra period, have evoked no positive response from the Governor, who is the ex-officio chairman of the Shrine Board.
It appears the authorities in the Shrine Board are out to create the 2008-like situation in Jammu and elsewhere in the country for reasons best known to them. How else should one interpret the indifferent attitude of the authorities in the Shrine Board to the otherwise genuine demand that the duration of yatra should be 60 days, instead of 39 days?
It would not be out of place to recall here what Governor Vohra had done in 2008 immediately after taking over his new assignment. He had then said that the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board did not require the piece of land at Baltal which had been diverted to it on a temporary basis by the then state government. He had sent a letter to the government to this effect.
Several organizations and parties in Jammu like the BJP had reacted very sharply to the Governor's decision. The VHP, Bajrang Dal and the Shiv Sena had organized protests in several areas of Jammu province. Hundreds of people had come on the roads of Jammu city and burnt the effigies of Governor Vohra. The frontline organizations of the internally-displaced Kashmiri Hindus, including Panun Kashmir, also had reacted very sharply, saying that the "Governor and the Government of India had conspired against the minority communities in the state and outraged the religious sensitivities of the Hindus". But these protests in Jammu had not moved the adamant and unaccommodating authorities.
The then state BJP president Ashok Khajuria had written a very strong letter to Governor Vohra, which read like this: "We cancelled the meeting (with Governor) to register our protest against your decision to allow the Congress to undermine the authority of the SASB within 96 hours of the Governor's appointment with a view to appeasing radical groups. You have disappointed the nation and lowered the dignity of the constitutional office by walking into the trap of the Congress, NC and separatists by announcing that the State Government would manage the ongoing yatra and that the SASB doesn't require the piece of land under scrutiny. There is no doubt that the action will be construed by extremists and fanatics within and outside the government as a major concession to terrorism and politics of radicalism and blackmail…Besides, your action has made minorities (non-Muslim communities) in the state feel that you have come here to help fanatics promote their regressive and communal agenda". This letter, portions of which were published prominently by almost all the Jammu-based dailies, had also very strongly urged the Governor to "review his stand on the issue and dismiss the Congress-led coalition government".
But the Governor had struck to his stand. The operative part of his D.O. letter, dated June 29, 2008, had said that "In view of the State Government's firm commitment that the requirements and interests of the yatris will be fully ensured and protected, the SASB does not need to pursue its earlier request for forest land being diverted for creating the required temporary facilities for the yatris by the Board". The way the authorities are conducting themselves clearly suggest that they are unlikely to budge from their stand. It is time for the state government to intervene and avert the impending disaster. The state just cannot afford an agitation of the type the entire nation witnessed both in Jammu as well as Kashmir.
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