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| Geelani, Raj Bhawan & Omar Government | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 21: What about the State Raj Bhawan, New Delhi's representative in Jammu and Kashmir? And, what about the government led by Valley-based National Conference leader Omar Abdullah? Has not the State Raj Bhawan, which otherwise is required to watch with vigilance if the State Government is over-stepping its authority to appease one section of the society or outrage the religious sentiments of another section by pursuing an intolerant religious policy and whose duty is to ensure enforcement of the constitution, taken steps calculated to outrage the religious sentiments of the Hindus and create an environment that would discourage the Yatris from undertaking the Yatra? Unfortunately, the answer is that the State Raj Bhawan has taken a few steps in order to vitiate and discourage the Yatra to the Holy Cave Shrine, which is venerated by millions and millions of Hindus.
How else should one describe the highly controversial decision of the State Raj Bhawan to impose what the people in Jammu describe as "Jazia" on those who want to set up "free langars" en-route the Holy Cave Shrine for the Yatris. The State Raj Bhawan, which controls the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board and runs its affairs and which conducts the Amarnath Yatra, should have appreciated those anxious for setting up "free langars" and offered them all sorts of support to their noble gesture. It should have patted them. But, no, the Raj Bhawan would not do that. Instead, it would charge a huge sum of Rupees 25,000 from each person or from each socio-religious organization anxious for setting up a "free langar" on one pretext or the other.
The decision to impose what the outraged Hindus called "Jazia" could not be justified. It has sent a signal across the country, nay across the world, that Jammu and Kashmir is an Islamic State where the Hindus do not enjoy religious freedom to the extent the people in any secular state enjoy. No, the decision has sent a message across the country that here is a constitutional authority in the Muslim-majority Jammu and Kashmir that is more than willing to make common cause in its own way with Syed Ali Shah Geelani and others of his ilk in order to vitiate and discourage the Amarnath Yatra. The State Raj Bhawan is already known for the highly controversial decision that it took on June 28-29, 2008 to hand over the Baltal land to the State Government saying that it did not require that piece of land for providing additional facilities to the Yatris. The State Raj Bhawan had taken this decision in its desperate bid to pander to the extreme views as represented by the Kashmiri Muslim leaders, without any exception.
As was expected, the controversial decision of the State Raj Bhawan had added more fuel the fire in the outraged Jammu region. What the outraged Jammu did to oppose the decision of the State Raj Bhawan is too well known. The decision of the State Raj Bhawan to charge rupees 25,000 from each person desirous of setting up a "free langar" has also outraged the religious sentiments of the Hindus. The decision can be legitimately interpreted as a manifestation of the State Raj Bhawan's biased attitude towards the Hindus and as another attempt on its part at appeasing the Kashmiri fanatics, who are opposing the Amarnath Yatra on the ground that it would disturb the Kashmir's ecology and pollute its environment.
It can be said without any hesitation that the State Raj Bhawan has failed to discharge its constitutional obligations and that it has wittingly or unwittingly walked into the trap of the Kashmiri extremists like Syed Ali Shah Geelani, all opposed to everything un-Islamic, everything Indian and everything Hindu. The decision of the State Raj Bhawan to impose tax on "free langars" is undoubtedly a negation of the Indian Constitution that stands for religious freedom subject to the condition that no community shall be allowed to injure the religious sentiments of other communities and that the State shall not discriminate between the communities on any religious ground. (To be continued)
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