From: Daily News and Analysis
Amarnath ropeway plan puts J&K on a powder keg
Firdous Syed | Agency: DNA | Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Memories of the 2008 Amarnath land row are still fresh in the minds of the people. No sane person in his right frame of mind will like to see a repeat of 2008. The then governor, General SK Sinha, having a poisonous mindset, had triggered the Amarnath land row. He was keen to construct a ropeway right up to the holy shrine situated at an altitude of more than 13,000 ft. This ill-conceived plan stirred such a mass hysteria that in no time, the entire population was on the streets with a do-or-die determination. The public perception that the permanent infrastructure being created will enable yatra round the year, which could probably facilitate a change of demography of the valley, caused deep unrest. Disturbances in the valley followed by a counter uprising in the Jammu caused such a turmoil that for a while it appeared as if partition of J&K with immense loss of human life was unavoidable. Eventually good senses prevailed and the plans to create permanent infrastructure were shelved, thus allowing the inflamed passions to settle down.
During the last decade, the yatra has undergone a phenomenal increase; from 1.1 lakh pilgrims visiting the shrine in 2002, the number has crossed 6.21 lakh in 2012. This growth of the yatra has certainly given rise to many ecological concerns. However, irrespective of the real ecological concerns, people in the valley are by and large not perturbed by the ever-growing number of pilgrims. But that seems to be changing for the worst. The Amarnath yatra, which actually signifies the syncretic nature of the Kashmiri society, has now been rendered controversial. Divisive politics is being played around a purely religious practice, which otherwise signifies inter-faith harmony. The Sangh Parivar has succeeded in creating hysteria; it has become nearly impossible to analyse the problem of mismanagement in right perspective. The impression being created that absence of infrastructure is the reason for the increased deaths is hogwash.
Judicial activism may also prove counterproductive. The Supreme Court, without waiting for the special committee’s report, has asked the ‘government to finish construction of roads and widening of passage to the Amarnath shrine before snowfall”. Out of the total 93 deaths this year, only three or four were due to accidents on the tracks. All other deaths occurred due to complications because of the high altitude. The Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) had registered 4.5 lakh yatris for this year’s pilgrimage but 6.21 lakh undertook the yatra — clearly “1.7 lakh yatris undertook the pilgrimage without registration”. Instead of widening of tracks, it needs to be ascertained why unregistered pilgrims were allowed to undertake the journey without any medical clearance.
The over-eagerness of the pilgrims — owing to the fear of fast melting of the Lingam — to undertake the pilgrimage in the first few weeks effectively deflates the bogey of short duration of the yatra, another reason being cited for the increased deaths. The statistics for the last three years reveal that 75% to 85% “of the pilgrims completed the yatra during the first 30 days”. This year, while 31,000 yatris undertook the journey in the first two days, “on the last day, 1,400 pilgrims performed darshan of the holy ice Lingam”. Where is the need for the yatra period to be extended? And after the melting of the Lingam, what is the significance of undertaking the journey?
Whenever and wherever religion is deployed as a political tool, it is inevitably bound to cause social unrest. The Sangh Parviar, smelling blood, has started creating a ruckus and said that “without wasting time the government should pay all attention in bettering facilities, including construction of road or ropeway to cave shrine”. The Union home minister, by assuring the MPs in the Rajya Sabha that he will look into the issue of the ropeway, has made the people in the valley believe that SK Sinha’s plan has been finally revived. The state is once again placed atop a powder keg.
Certainly creation of permanent infrastructure for a pilgrimage that in actuality is a yatra to be undertaken during a particular timeframe has no justification whatsoever — “as per the Hindu traditions/mythology, the pilgrimage is limited to Shravan month only”. Former Sadar-e-Riyasat and MP Dr Karan Singh recently stated that the yatra duration used to be 10 days ‘in 1949 when he started performing pooja in the holy shrine for the first time” and only “5,000 yatris had visited that year”. In case the yatra is not politicised, Kashmiri Muslims will continue to welcome it; without their active participation, successful conduct of the yatra till now would have been simply impossible. Let the yatra remain a matter of faith and not politics.
● firdoussyed@yahoo.com
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