Hindu bodies protest over ‘curtailment’ in Amarnath Yatra period

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Apr 16: Various Hindu organizations today staged protest over ‘curtailment’ in the duration of annual Amarnath pilgrimage scheduled to begin from June 25, in front of Press Club here today.
Amid chants of ‘Bam Bam Bhole’, various Hindu, political and Social bodies including Vishva Hindu Parishad, (VHP), BJP, Shaheed Samarak Trust, Panun Kashmir, (PK), Jammu Province Peoples Forum, (JPPF), Rashtrawadi Morcha, Kranti Dal, Sanatan Dharam Sabha (SDS) Shiv Sena, Hindustan (SSH), Shri Ram Sena, Bajrang Dal and Jammu West Assembly Movement today held a joint protest demanding the reschedule of yatra dates.
The protestors alleged that the Government has intentionally reduced the yatra duration thus hurting the sentiments of the Hindu community.
VHP has already challenged the scheduled dates announced by the Government and is adamant on taking out the yatra from the traditional date of Jesht Purnima falling on June 4.
It criticized the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) for curtailing the yatra by 25 days by starting it on June 25. The Hindu organizations while rejecting the schedule duration as proposed by SASB reiterated that the VHP and Baba Amarnath and Baba Buda Amarnath Yatri Niyas will run parallel yatra from June 4 which is the auspicious date of the yatra from thousands of years.
They said that the Board has no locus -standi in selection of duration of yatra and its date should be left to dharmachariyas.
The representative of Hindu Janjagran Samiti Mumbai, Ramesh Shindey and Sanatan Sanstha Mumbai Abhai Vartak also participated in today’s protest and assured full support to VHP in its movement.
Socialist Democratic Party (SDP), chief Dr Darakshan Indrabi also participated in the dharna. She said that the religious shrines are for promotion of peace, tranquility and brotherhood and not disputes among the communities.
It is unfortunate that the holy Amarnath Yatra is always becoming center of controversy, which should be averted and the Government should concede the genuine demand of the protestor.
Those who participated in the protest included VHP state chief Dr Rama Kant Dubey, RSS Prant Sangh Chalak, Brig (retd) Suchet Singh, BJP MLAs Ashok Khajuria and Ch Sukhnandan, Leela Karan Sharma of Shaheed Samarak Trust, Mahant Rameshwar Dass Mahnat of Purani Mandi temple, Ashwani Chrungoo, PK, Dr Narinder Singh ABVP, Pavitar Singh of JPPF, Sunil Dimple of Jammu West Assembly Movement, Rajiv Gupta of Ram Sena, Sat Sharma (CA) of BJP, S Balvinder Singh Bhatia, Rashtarwadi Morcha, Pritam Sharma of Kranti Dal, Yudhvir Sethi of Sanatan Dharma Natak Sangh, Jagdish Dogra of Santan Dharam Sabha.
VHP leader Dr Sham led the protest at Udhampur. The protests were held at Kathua, Sunderbani, Samba, Rajouri and Poonch, a VHP spokesman said.