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Congress' soft Hindutva rolls for BJP's benefit The other voice: M
Burhanuddin Qasmi | Editor, Eastern Crescent Saturday, July
12, 2008
According to Hindu beliefs, the
Amarnath cave was first discovered by a Muslim shepherd, Buta Malik, and to
date, a percentage of the income through donations made by pilgrims to the
shrine is given to the descendants of Malik. It demonstrates that Amarnath has
been a solid bond between Hindus and Muslims in the Kashmir valley since its
inception. Hindus travel from far places to unknown hilly tracks of Himalayas
to attain religious virtues and local Muslims provide them with logistic
support either to meet their commercial end and give credence to the spirit of
Kashmiri hospitality. The reasons for Muslims support
apart, the organised Amarnath yatra has been peacefully trekked since 1858 with
mutual cooperation from both Hindu yatris and local Muslims. Baring a
few incidents beginning 2000 in which at least 30 and in the succeeding years
2001 and 2002 another 13 and two innocent pilgrims were respectively killed by
separatist Kashmiri militants to prove their presence in the Valley, nobody has
ever used Amarnath to gain political mileage so far. For that matter, extremists
anywhere in the world and more so in J&K, never distinguish between
religious places as Hindu, Muslim or Sikh when they find a suitable target. One
may reflect to 1995 when 150 militants took over the 15th-century mausoleum of
Shaikh Nooruddin Wali, considered Kashmir's patron saint, and an adjoining masjid
at Charar-e Sharief. Our army had laid siege to the shrine for two months but
the shrine and most of the surrounding town including the masjid was
smoked down with each side blaming the other for the damage. In fact, the common Kashmiris are
protesting aloud that they have never been against Amarnath yatra and that they
would continue to support it. One newspaper column from Kashmir reads, "We
are not against the Yatra and have not harmed or harassed any pilgrim
undertaking the journey. We arrange langars and free accommodation for
the stranded yatris each year and will continue to blow the harmonious
religious breeze that fragrances our paradise -- Kashmir". Their protest against land
allotment to the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) was completely against the
local government, which has according to the protestors 'illegally' and
unnecessarily transferred 40 hectares of forest land to SASB causing ecological
imbalance. The protestors claim is based on
facts. Even before July 1, 2008 when the Government of Mr Gulam Nabi Azad
revoked its earlier decision in the wake of strong protests in the valley, the
Amarnath yatris got free passage from the protestors to enable them
continue their journey to the cave. This is also proved by the record turnout
for this year's Amarnath yatra despite the violence. "Compared with last
year's 2.5 lakh pilgrims who went to the cave in a period of two months, this
year, more than four lakh devotees have turned up in the first two weeks
alone", reported CNN-IBN. Recounting their past, one comes
to the obvious conclusion that Congress politicians are Ph.D holders when it
comes to creating communal tension in India. Their creative use of selective
secularism has mostly proven to be suicidal for them as a political party and
the nation has heavily for their follies. For, in the first instance, it was a
Congress Government which had virtually inaugurated the tension leading to the
eventual demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992, followed by communal rioting
on a massive scale and the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts. Credit must go to the
Congress for all bombs till date exploding across Indian cities, mandirs
and masjids. The Babri show was a soft Hindutvavad
creation of the Congress. But, to their dismay, all the fruits went to
saffronised political establishment. In a way, the Congress wrote out the
script for the Babri drama, and the BJP, along with the Sangh Parivaar,
implemented it and got the legitimate credit that is due to principal actors of
any production. I, for one, am sure that the Congress has offered one more
attractive script in the shape of the land allotment dispute to the Hindutvavadis
and they will perform to the best of their abilities. The call for a Bharat
Band by the BJP and VHP on July 3, 2008 over the Amarnath land dispute was just
a beginning. Just wait and see how many more lives would be sacrificed in the
years to come. The BJP has always been
successfully manipulating majority sentiments over religious issues. Their
present Prime Ministerial candidate, Mr Lal Krishna Advani's rath yatra
catapulted them to the throne in Delhi in 1996. Their divisive propaganda is
now communalising the atmosphere over the land dispute so that Jammu and
Kashmir in particular, and India in general remains turbulent till such time as
elections are held. Once again, the BJP will emerge victorious and the Congress
will end up the loser. |
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