Issue 66 Vol III, June 30, 2008

E D I T O R I A L

Politics of pilgrimage

Communal divide constantly and consistently nurtured by major Indian political parties this week brought blood and gore to the valley of Kashmir. A retiring governor amply contributed to the sharpening of communal cleavages to an issue that has been harbinger of harmony for over 150 years. In fact, S.K.Sinha, a former Indian army general, who demitted office of the governor a week back, played cool mischief that offers political benefit to BJP that broadly represents right wing Hindus. Congress Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, his coalition partner PDP which has now withdrawn support and even the National Conference added to this mischief by their inept handling and playing to the governor’s tunes.

The annual Amarnath pilgrimage to the cave of lord Shiva bore testimony to the symbiotic relationship between Kashmiri Muslims and Hindus from the plains of India. The blame for violence that has claimed four young lives, injured many more and now threatens to burn Jammu and Kashmir squarely rests on the shoulders of Sinha and Azad. Other politicians eager to play communal cards and gain dubious advantage in an election year are no fewer culprits. They have fanned the communal fires. In Muslim majority Kashmir valley, the PDP, The NC and horde of extremist Muslim organisations have brought hundreds to the street protests and shut down the valley. Same way Hindu parties, the BJP and Shiv Sena besides some lunatic fringe elements are holding Jammu region to ransom. It is akin to the vitiated atmosphere of the 1990s.

At dispute is the allotment of 100 acres of forest land by Sinha to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board [SASB] that he headed for building permanent structures for the pilgrims. The new governor N.N. Vohra has refused to head the board and the government now controls it. The chief minister has said that the board does not need the land. The move might help slightly cool down rising temperature in the valley, but majority of Hindus would see it otherwise. This may not completely stem the tide of communal inferno. BJP needed something like this for the coming Lok Sabha elections.

The Congress must face the charge of communalising the atmosphere. The accusations by  the PDP are indeed a hoax, but the Hurriyat, which had been jobless the last few years because of Pakistan's internal strife, has found a new cause and declared the land transfer as the first move towards a demographic change in Kashmir. How is that? No one can explain.

It takes indeed diabolical genius to manufacture a crisis out of thin air. One does not understand how in a country declared secular by the very preamble of its constitution, the government keeps meddling in religious affairs on one pretext of the other. A Muslim chief minister heads the Wakf Board and Hindu governor the SASB. Elsewhere in India several Hindu, Muslim and Sikh pilgrims’ places have government hand involved in one or the other manner. Intriguingly a government that can not run its own affairs efficiently or honestly tries to dirty religious places too.

The Amarnath pilgrimage is a fairly recent affair, though the cave was discovered by a Muslim shepherd in the 1850s, whose descendants, together with Hindu sadhus, were organising the pilgrimage until 2001. From all available accounts, the pilgrimage ran well for 150 years, even at the height of the militancy, until the J and K government stepped in. Since then one or other row has been in the news.

In 2004, the Governor extended the pilgrimage from one to two months, and a second 30 km shorter route, via Baltal, was regularised. Various new and improved facilities, including a helicopter service, were advertised, increasing traffic from a few thousand pilgrims to four lakh.

The State Pollution Control Board complained about the sheer quantity of garbage and human waste. In the absence of toilets, four lakh preferred a lota and the woods. It has been great strain of security forces particularly the army and the civil administration that is already drained in Kashmir because of Pakistan supported violence.

In 2006, Deepender Giri, the mahant long involved in organising the yatra, resigned from the SASB in disgust, accusing the Governor of creating an artificial lingam, which had begun to melt earlier than normal due to un-seasonal heat and increased pilgrim traffic. To stem the melting of the lingam and the protests that followed, the Governor, without consulting the Board, ordered dry ice to be placed around the lingam, leading to further protests.

One does not the fate of the present minority government, one thing is clear that elections would be contested on communal lines and parties trying for secular space would be badly affected.

Is it not the time for politics in India to complete separate itself from religion so that communal tide be squarely halted.

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