Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Aug 17: Yog Guru Baba Ramdev has strongly opposed the passage of `The Kashmiri Hindu and Shrine and Religious Places (Management and Regulation) bill 2009′, which was scheduled to be taken up in the forthcoming last session of 11th Assembly beginning August 25 in Srinagar, the summer capital of the State.
In a letter written to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, a copy of which is in possession of the Excelsior, Baba Ramdev said his Bharat Swabhiman Nyas is strongly opposed to the bill, which had been introduced in the Assembly in 2009 by a handful of vested interests without consulting representatives of Hindus.
“Majority of Hindu Samaj hasn’t been consulted for this very sensitive bill, whose some of the provisions were ‘anti-Hindu’ and unconstitutional,” he said in his letter dated August 12. A copy of the letter has also been sent to Minister of State for Home, Jammu and Kashmir and all members of the Joint Select Committee, which had been constituted by Speaker Mubarak Gul to go through the bill and submit report in next session of the Assembly, which is starting on August 25.
Pointing out that since aims and objectives of the bill were to save those Hindu religious places in Kashmir, which were damaged or encroached upon after migration of Kashmiri Pandits in 1990, Ramdev said he failed to understand the attempts to bring all Hindu religious places under the bill.
“In the independent India’s history, this is first example of bringing all Hindu religious places under the Government control,” he said adding: “if at all this bill has to be passed, the Government should exclude the religious places of Hindus, which were autonomous, self-reliant or which had neither been damaged nor were closed down during the period of militancy”.
Ramdev said: “the Saints have protected the religious places at the cost of their lives. Therefore, it will be grave injustice with the Hindus to take such religious places under control of the Government, which were functional even during adverse circumstances and continued their religious activities. The bill would bring to end the left out signs of Hindu religion in the Kashmir Valley”.
Noting that the bill contained some provisions, which would create rift between Kashmiri Hindus and non-Kashmiri Hindus, the Yog Guru said the bill has spelt out that the person born in Kashmir is a Kashmiri Hindu and others are non-Kashmiri Hindus.
“Only Kashmiri Hindus have been given the right to vote for the Management Board, which would run the Hindu shrines in Kashmir. Very cleverly, the Hindus of Jammu and the country have been deprived of their right to run the religious places in Kashmir. Therefore, the bill is against unity, integrity and constitution of the country,” the letter written by Ramdev said.
Asserting that the demand for passing the bill is being made by “few selfish Kashmiri Hindus”, Ramdev said the common Hindus is not even aware of “poisonous provisions” of the bill. He added that the prime concern and priority of the Kashmiri Pandits is to return to their houses with self respect and guarantee of security and their aim is never to take control of Hindu religious places with connivance of the Government.
Ramdev said any attempts by the Jammu and Kashmir Government to pass the “unconstitutional bill” and take control of Hindu religious places, this would be a desperate bid to destroy Hindu culture “which we will not tolerate at any cost”. He threatened that if any attempt was made in the Joint Select Committee meeting, scheduled for August 19, to approve the bill, he would reach Jammu on August 20 and launch nationwide agitation against the bill.
“Any attempt to pass the bill would have serious repercussions for which the State Government will be directly responsible,” he warned.
Ramdev said he too was hurt with damage caused to some Hindu shrines or the temples, `Maths’ and religious places, which have been closed, Ramdev appealed to the State Government to get such religious places released from the encroachers but don’t interfere in their functioning.
“If any irregularity or complaint is found in functioning of the religious places, the Government can take to the law to remove it but not attempt to take over them,” he said noting that in India the State Government only provides security to Mosques and Churches and wanted to know why this interference in religious places of Hindus.
Ramdev claimed that the Government has deliberately not included the members in the Joint Select Committee headed by Law Minister Mir Saifullah, who were opposed the bill in the Select Committee.
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