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| Anti-yatra elements in Kashmir advance spurious arguments | | Duration Of Amarnath Pilgrimage | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 8: One can easily understand the reasons behind the conflict between the Hindu religious organizations or Shiva Bhaktas and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah over the issue of duration of Amarnath yatra. One can also understand the reasons behind the ongoing confrontation between Governor, N N Vohra, who is also the ex-officio chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) and the devotees of Lord Shiva. Likewise, one can also catalogue the causes responsible for the bitterness between the founder of Art of Living, Sri Sri Ravishankar and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP).
Since everything is in public domain, it is hardly necessary to report anything more in this regard. Suffice it to say that nothing concrete has been done by the competent authorities to diffuse the situation. It is wonder then that the VHP and similar other socio-religious organizations - apart from the Shiva Bhaktas - have been feeling badly let down and threatening a countrywide agitation to educate the Indian public opinion about what they call the "brazen interference in their religious affairs". One can only hope and pray that good sense would finally prevail and the authorities and the Shiva Bhaktas would sit across the table and resolve the issue amicably.
However, what has also been disturbing is the fact that certain anti-yatra elements in Kashmir have also taken the plunge and opposed the demand seeking withdrawal of the SASB decision under which the period of Amarnath yatra was reduced to 39 days. (The devotees wanted the Shrine Board to commence the yatra from June 4.) These anti-yatra elements have started extending their full support to the authorities in the Shrine Board and advancing views which the anti-yatra elements had advanced in 2004 and 2008.
For example, they have accused the VHP and Shiva Bhaktas of "politicizing the yatra", saying "this politics is fraught with dangerous repercussions for the state". "We saw it happening in 2008 when the forest land transfer to SASB touched off a storm of protest in Kashmir leading to the killing of scores of youth", they say, adding that "ever since yatra has passed off peacefully and the period has allowed the organizers of the pilgrimage to grapple with some serious issues regarding the pilgrimage: the environment being the most significant of them". "The SASB has taken some creditable steps to protect the fragile ecology of the yatra route," thay have also said and asserted that "confining yatra to the mid-summer in Kashmir is a good decision". "It lessons the uncertainty of weather and the persisting rains and the attendant cold spell this year justify the curtailment of yatra," they have, in addition, said. Not only this, they have also said that the "smaller duration pilgrimage is also good for the environment along the yatra route" and that "SASB, therefore, should stick to its decision", as "this is necessary to rescue the yatra from becoming a political hunting ground for the likes of VHP". These are all spurious and provocative arguments by any yardstick.
Is it not an open interference in the religious affairs of the Hindus? Can any government or any body -- official, semi-official or even autonomous - interfere in the religious affairs of any other community? These anti-yatra elements in Kashmir need to respect the religious sentiments of the Hindus. For, it is very essential for the promotion of communal harmony. Interference in the religious affairs of any community as is being done in Kashmir by certain anti-yatra elements would simply further embitter the already rather bitter inter-communal relations in the state.
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