The Amarnath Cauldron Bubbles

Politics over the Amarnath Yatra doesn't seem to end. Several members of the BJP and the VHP have launched an agitation in Jammu against the decision of the state government to reduce the duration of the yearly pilgrimage. The protesters also seem to be “hurt” since the yatra could not begin as per rituals on the day of Jyestha Purnima.

Amarnath isn't new to the many political storms that troubled Jammu & Kashmir has seen. In 2008, the region erupted in flames when the state government transferred a portion of land to Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) to set up temporary shelters and facilities for the thousands of pilgrims who come from across India. Protests over the decision led to a standstill. The turmoil which went on for months resulted in several deaths and hundreds were injured, apart from fuelling an economic crisis in the state.

This time around, J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah himself courted controversy by Tweeting that God was responsible for the delay in commencement of Amarnath Yatra. Although what he meant was that natural causes such as too much snow on the route was responsible for the delay, his comment angered many. But the protests led by the Hindu right wing seemingly developed cracks from the beginning itself. Senior BJP leader Uma Bharti, who had announced a parallel Amarnath Yatra from Jammu on 3rd June to oppose the state government was found nowhere on ground to lead the agitation. BJP MPs Tarun Vijay and JP Nadda led the protests in Jammu. “We've joined the Amarnath agitation and have courted arrest”, Vijay informed TSI over phone from Jammu.

Separatists in the line of fire are lying low and playing safe on the controversy. “We are not against the Amarnath Yatra but we want them to curtail the duration of the yatra. Why are they insisting to stretch it for long? We respect every religion but we want reduction in the duration of the yatra to save the environment,” hardline separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani told TSI. While the separatists have questioned the yatra duration connecting it to environmental concerns, they seem to have forgotten Mughal Road and Dal Lake in their backyard which have degraded over the years. Once a major tourist attraction, the Dal lake is now a virtual septic tank. The Mughal Road plan is a disaster in the making as it may lead to the felling of more than 10,000 trees in the area. There is obvious silence of separatist leadership on the issue,” inform sources. Opposition of the Amarnath case, it seems, has become a gimmick for the politics of hate for those brandishing stark communalism. The fundamentalist rhetoric too is under challenge.

“Environment is no reason, it's merely a ploy”, says Dr Jitendra Singh, spokesperson for J&K BJP, “We have geological evidence to prove that the best time for the yatra is between May and September,” he adds.

Even as the political and religious divide is out in open, there is a sense of apprehension among pilgrims. “Why should we be deprived of religious freedom? The government cannot decide the duration of the yatra. The government is only for our security and safety,” says a pilgrim. There are others, including Kashmir watchers who make a different connotation of the political divide.  “It is quite clear that the holy Amarnath is the last major cultural connect between Kashmir and the rest of India. They (fundamentalists) are bent to put an end to this yatra as they cannot tolerate India's presence in the valley. They call it a 'cultural invasion'. The hate mindset which led to the 2008 violence in Kashmir hasn't changed a bit”, says historian Shashi Shekhar Toshkani, a displaced Kashmiri living in New Delhi. “We have references of the Amarnath Yatra in texts like Nilmat Purana and Rajatarangini. How can they stop us from our right to this pilgrimage?” he asks.

In this mounting tension, it's unlikely that the Amarnath cauldron will stop boiling anytime soon. Politics has taken over the religious rights of people. All in the name of an ‘abode for peace’!