Faith knows no reason but it has its reason. Are we losing the true meaning of the Amarnath Yatra in the brouhaha of controversy over the Himalingam? Mahakaal is indestructible. Amarnath also means the same.
Ever since jehadi politics took roots in Kashmir, Amarnath Yatra has become a pilgrimage of extreme risk. Routinely the yatris have been targeted by the agents of Islamic genocide. The state government under the PDP chief Mufti Mohammad Syed tried its best to curtail the number of the yatris, the duration of the yatra and even often abandoned the yatris to the vagaries of terrorists and weather.
Because the Governor of J&K Lt Gen S.K. Sinha has been keen on ensuring the security and sanctity of the yatra, he too became a fall guy for the jehadis and their political cousins. The Board under the chairmanship of the Governor has been making tremendous efforts to improve the traditional and the seasonal routes. A helicopter service was also put in position. The state government and the PDP were trying to create hurdles for the Board. This year over half a million yatris are expected during the pilgrimage season between June 11 and August 9. In the mayhem, an unproven rumour has become the season'sbiggest scoop with the typically anti-Hindu segments in the media. Reports from Kashmir are often tempered by the proclivities of fundamentalist Islamic negationism. Unfortunately, through the orchestrated frenzy on an allegedly fake Shivlingam, the authenticity of the shrine and the pilgrimage is being sought to be questioned. There are demands for the resignation of the Governor, judicial probe and investigation by geological experts. That the faith of the Hindus and the yatra have survived since the dawn of the history and that there has been no impact of the latest controversy on the ever-increasing number of devotees have not chastened the scoop scavengers, is disconcerting and dangerous.
We are living in a milieu of systematic onslaught on everything Hindu, every symbol that binds this nation as one. Two years ago on the Deepawali day we witnessed the arrest and humiliation of His Holiness the Shankaracharyas of Kanchi and the attempted desecration of the Holy Mutt built and consecrated by Adi Shankara. Few weeks ago, we witnessed the fall of the world'sonly Hindu state, victim to the vicious machinations of the godless Maoists, Indian Left and a violent movement for democracy. Hinduism is under siege from all quarters. Not only the jehadis who abet it. The central government itself is formed on the only plank of anti-Hindutva, and so they perform: encouraging proselytisation, introducing legislations, setting up commissions and committees only to undermine the Hinduness of this great nation. They dangle reservation and special benefits only to divide the society. They sent interlocutors to Amsterdam at state expense to negotiate with desperadoes like Thuingaleng Muivah Kashmir like autonomy to Nagaland. The destruction of Hindu temples from Dhaka to Lahore to Malaysia has gone unchallenged. Those who still weep for the so-called Babri structure do not care to utter a word of protest in the face of such outrageous provocation. The UPA-ruled state governments trample on Hindu rights in state after state, as if being Hindu in India is a crime. The anti-Hindu actions of the UPA in the last two years are legion.
The Amarnath Ice Lingam conspiracy has to be seen in this light. Yet another Indian icon of faith is under a planned attack. If aggressive minorityism is the political agenda of UPA, hurting majority sentiments has become its policy framework.
The yatra is not only about the Ice Shivlingam. As Shri Jagmohan pointed out in the columns of Organiser last week: The unique yatra satisfies the individual'surge to take his soul to soaring heights, to experience spiritual passions of the highest order and see Mahadeva in his greatest image and in his finest abode. But the significance of the yatra does not end at the personal level. It extends to the much larger issue of cultural unity and vision of India from Kashmir to Kanyakumari from Kathiawar to Kamrup. Its great and historic importance as an underlying integrating force needs to be recognised. It is a relationship that has existed for thousands of years in the mind and soul of the people that shaped India'sintellect and emotions, life, literature and philosophy.
