news details |
|
|
| Geelani, Raj Bhawan & State Government | | | EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, June 22: The attitude of the Omar Abdullah-led government to the amarnath Yatra has been no different. It has substantially enhanced the various kinds of taxes. The objective of the Omar Abdullah-led government is to not only to fleece the Amarnath Yatris, but also to vitiate and discourage the Yatra itself. And, it was expected of him. After all, he is the one who on July 22, 2008, had roared like a lion on the floor of the Lok Sabha and declared, "We will not give an inch of land to the Shrine Board. We have been fighting for our land and we will continue to do so." He is the one who had also told the Lok Sabha that the Kashmiri Muslims had never opposed the Amarnath Yatra and nor had they ever attacked any Amarnath Yatri. He had made this statement at a time when the bigots had been attacking the Yatris, including women devotees, at a number of places in Kashmir, including the Dal Lake area and Banihal.
However, it is true that this time Omar Abdullah had taken on Syed Ali Shah Geelani. On June 19, he asked Geelani why did he not ask Mufti Mohammad Sayeed to reduce the Yatra period? He asked this question while talking to reporters at Tulmulla, where thousands and thousands of persons had gathered on the occasion of Mela Khirbhawani. Nearly 40,000 devotees paid obeisance at the ancient temple that day.
To refer here to what Omar Abdullah said about Geelani at Tulmulla is not to suggest that the attitude of the former to the Amarnath Yatyra and Yatris is what it should be in a secular polity. It's not like that. He has sought to discourage the Yatra in his own style. What exactly has his government done to discourage and vitiate the Yatra? His government has issued an order that requires the vehicle meant for the Amarnath Yatra to pay a tax of Rs 3000 for seven days and Rs 2000 per day after that. According to this order, a vehicle carrying devotees to the Holy Shrine of Mata Vaishno Devi will have to pay an entry fee of Rs 2000. Such vehicles would be required to pay Rs 2000 per day in case they stayed in the state for more than three days. The Jammu and Kashmir government issued a notification to this effect under Jammu and Kashmir Motor Vehicle Taxation Act 1957 only a few days ago.
It's no wonder then that the outraged non-Muslims ad devotees of Lord Shiva and Mata Vaishno Devi have condemned the Omar Abdullah-led government and its communally motivated decision to charge an entry fee on all buses and other vehicles carrying Yatris and food items meant for the Yatris to the Holy Shrine of Shri Amarnath. Some of the outraged Hindus have described the imposition of these taxes as a "conspiracy hatched with a view to stopping the holy Yatra". "The Mughals imposed Jizia, a religious tax. The state government wants to impose the tax again and stop the Yatra…The government has been providing subsidy to Hajj pilgrims. We have no problem on the issue. Then why the government has imposed tax on Amarnath Yatra," Avdhoota Nand Maharaj of Shri Shiv Shakti Sewadar said and asked at a press conference in Delhi a couple of days ago. He also bemoaned saying "such decisions hurt sentiments of the pilgrims, and the government, instead of providing better amenities to the devotees, is attempting to disturb the pilgrimage."
Surender Kumar, president, Shri Shiv Shakti Sewadar, also expressed similar views and asked the Union Government to direct the Omar Abdullah-led government to withdraw what he called "Tughlaqi orders". "The administration is charging Rs 25,000 from even those, who are to provide langar for the Amarnath Yatris, a free service for the pilgrims," he said, and warned "If our demands are not met, we would launch a nationwide movement with the help of other organizations." A number of Jammu-based organizations, too, have put forth similar demands and warned the authorities that any failure on their part to withdraw these taxes would force them to come on the streets.
All this suggests that Syed Ali Shah Geelani, the State Raj Bhawan and the Omar Abdullah government are all working to communalize the Holy Yatra. One should not expect that Geelani would change its attitude. But one would surely like the State Raj Bhawan and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah to adopt a secular approach to the Amarnath Yatra and Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Yatra because they are part of the establishment. They cannot behave in the fashion they have been behaving. Their actions have undoubtedly hurt the Hindu sentiment and subverted the cardinal principle of secularism - equal treatment to all the religions. One can only hope that the State Raj Bhawan and Omar Abdullah-led government would rise to the occasion and withdraw all the controversial and communally motivated orders. (Concluded)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
