Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 22: Opposing various provisions of the proposed Kashmiri Hindu Shrines Bill and inclusion of functional Hindu shrines under the ambit of proposed legislation, Shri Chander Chinar Bada Akhara Udasin Trust has alleged that the Government was not giving audience to them for presenting their case.
“The Government as well as members of the Joint Select Committee of the House are not giving audience to us for a discussion over dangerous provisions of the Bill for the reasons best known to them,” said Swami Prem Vivekanand, secretary of the Trust while talking to media persons at Jammu on Friday.
Appealing to the members of the Assembly, Hindu leaders and general public to deeply go through the dangerous provision of this bill and ensure that the same is not passed in its present form, he also urged the Kashmiri Hindus to rise above the narrow motive of grabbing all Hindu shrines in the Valley and think of strengthening Hindu religious bodies in the Valley.
“The stated purpose of the bill was to protect and revive the 500 odd temples, now in distress which were run by Kashmiri Pandit community prior to 1990 and not to disturb and grab the functioning Hindu religious places like ours, but the intent of this malicious bill appears just the opposite,” the Swami said.
Throwing light on history of the Shri Chander Chinar Bada Akhara and its philanthropic activities as well as routine Puja and other rituals, he alleged that the controversial bill sought to take away their religious freedom and punish them for their courage as well as competence for carrying out religious and charitable activities under most difficult conditions.
He also maintained that their Ashram was not a Kashmiri Hindu shrine because it was neither built by Kashmiri Pandits nor they had ever been involved in its affairs since it was established.
Swami Prem Vivekananda claimed that no consultations were ever made by the Government or by those few self-seeking people demanding the Bill, with the concerned stake-holders like their Trust at the time of drafting the Bill. “That is why it is full of anomalies and lacunae. Many of its provisions are not only arbitrary, unconstitutional but also divisive. They create wedge between Kashmiri and non-Kashmiri Hindus, which is also evident from its nomenclature,” he said and warned that any interference in the functioning Hindu shrines would ultimately lead to their closure and thus destroy the remaining signs of Hinduism from the Valley.
He also demanded that the persons who sold the land and property of Hindu religious shrines in Kashmir Valley must be punished.
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