delink government functionaries from religious bodies

(Kashmir Times
July 9, 2008)

Editorial

Head of state; Not head of faith
Need to delink government functionaries from religious bodies

The vicious fallout of the 'resolution' of the crisis triggered off in the Kashmir Valley by the land allotment to the Amarnath Shrine Board underlines the need for a serious look into the desireability of continuing with the existing practice of high constitutional functionaries doubling as heads of religious institutions. Given the social milieu such as it is, this duel functioning is loaded with quite a few volatile implications. Added to this ever present risk is the danger of the delicate responsibility falling on the shoulders of the persons devoid of a vision or, to put it simply, irresponsible men incapable of honouring the mandated obligations of their high public position. Unfortunately, here in Jammu and Kashmir, we have had the misfortune of witnessing the disastrous consequences of both these shortcomings. Its high cost to the state and its people will take time to assess fully, even as the cycle of violence refuses to die down.

Another side of this story is that the central government refuses to do away with the subsidy being provided to Haj pilgrims for their air travel to and from Saudi Arabia. This type of concession is morally indefensible and expressly disallowed by the tenets of Islam. A number of prominent religious scholars, organizations and others have been seeking termination of Haj subsidy. Yet the government refuses to respond because this practice is sold as political sop to garner votes. Ironically, even the BJP found it convenient to continue with the subsidy while it ruled the country for full five years as the head of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). Back in the opposition, the BJP is shouting hoarse to abolish Haj subsidy, more stridently in the wake of the Amarnath land controversy which goes to prove how convenient it has become for the political players to misuse religion, irrespective of glaring inconsistency of approach and attitude.

The management of important religious institutions in J&K has always been a subject of public controversy. The divesting of the Dharmarth Trust by the then governor Jagmohan and transferring the management of the Mata Vaishnao Devi Shrine affairs to an autonomous board headed by him had brought the government into head on collision with the Trust's life-time head, Dr Karan Singh. Similarly, terminating Farooq Abdullah's life-time headship of the Muslim Auqaf Trust (by the Mufti Sayeed regime) and its takeover by the government controlled board headed by the chief minister was followed by a bitter political controversy which continues to surface from time to time.
Ex-governor SK Sinha who, as head of the Amarnath Shrine board, behaved in a highly despicable manner and pushed the Raj Bhavan itself into the centre of a political storm. That is what small men in high places do. The ongoing crisis has once again highlighted the need to look deeper and root out the basic cause of the endemic trouble. Governor and chief minister should have nothing to do with management of religious affairs in a secular system because that bestows on them the undeclared title of 'defender of faith' which is prone to dangerous exploitation by over ambitious persons like SK Sinha.

The management of religious institutions should be delinked from the high offices of governor and chief minister. Autonomous institutions need to be created and persons of known integrity selected to man these bodies. J&K is a tinder box of competing identities which have sufficiently polluted political processes. There is no scope for adding to this problem by creating new tensions in the name of religion. Diverse interpretations being used to characterize the Amarnath land controversy indicate the inflammability of the issue. Sooner the root cause is delinked from high public offices better for all.