Budha Amarnath Yatra to be inaugurated on Aug 16

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, July 18: Budha Amarnath Yatra will be inaugurated here at Bhagwati Nagar Base Camp on August 16 and on next day the first batch of pilgrims will leave for the holy shrine situated in Poonch district.
This was stated by National convener of Bajrang Dal, Sohan Singh Solanki, while addressing a press conference, here today. He said while the first batch of pilgrims will be flagged off from Jammu on August 17, the last batch will leave for shrine on August 23 and on the same day the holy mace will leave to pay obeisance to Baba Budha Amarnath. The pilgrimage will last till Rakshabandhan, he further added.
“In this year’s pilgrimage, all the historical, ancient and religious places coming on the way right from Jammu to Poonch have been connected for the devotees”, he said and revealed that the pilgrimage will return to Jammu after passing through holy shrine of Shiv Khori.
Solanki said that the Budha Amarnath Yatra was disrupted in the year 1996 due to threat of terrorists but was again started after more than 50,000 workers of Bajrang Dal from across the Country performed Yatra.
The Bajrang Dal leader said that due to militancy Hindus had migrated from Poonch, Rajouri and adjoining districts but after Budha Amarnath Yatra was started, they started returning back to their homes and now even after occurrence of militancy activities they are living there without fear as the Yatra increases their confidence.
Solanki further said that the Yatra was started on national level by Bajrang Dal in 2005 and for last 13 years, it is being taken out successfully as thousands of devotees from all over India participate in the Yatra.
Suryakant, national co-convener of Bajrang Dal, besides Naveen Sudan and Kartik, convener and co-convener of Bajrang Dal, Jammu province, were also present in the press conference.