Author: A Surya Prakash
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: July 15, 2008
Giving in to Muslim communalists and protesters
who indulged in violence across the Kashmir Valley, the Congress-led Government
in Jammu & Kashmir hastily withdrew the allotment of 100 acres of land
made to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board to provide basic amenities to Hindu
pilgrims along the Amarnath Yatra route. The attitude of the Muslim majority
to the Hindu minority in the Valley and the response of the Government in
India's only Muslim-majority State to the issue of minority rights is in sharp
contrast to the manner in which the Hindu majority and the Union and State
Governments treat the religious minorities in the rest of India, specially
in regard to pilgrimages. The contrast is so striking that these developments
have suddenly rekindled the debate on the pseudo-secularism and minorityism
that is practiced by the Congress and its allies in the United Progressive
Alliance.
Apart from constructing exclusive Haj terminals
in airports and offering Haj pilgrims 16 embarkation points in the country,
the Union Government has been providing Haj subsidy that has been rising every
year. The Haj subsidy, which was a mere Rs 25.59 crore in 1993, crossed Rs
348 crore in 2006. The cost of the subsidy has ballooned because the price
the pilgrims pay for the return ticket to Jeddah has remained constant at
Rs 12,000 since 1994 while the actual cost of the ticket has risen from Rs
33,000 to Rs 46,000.
The number of pilgrims has also shot up. Apart
from this subsidy, the Indian government has a Haj Office in the Indian Consulate
in Jeddah, runs a hospital in Mecca and dispensaries in Mecca and Madinah,
and sends doctors, nurses and para-medical staff to run these medical establishments
during the pilgrimage. In addition, the Government has sanctioned eight ambulances
and medicines for pilgrims who fall ill.
The number of Haj pilgrims has gone up from
25,205 in 1993 to 1.08 lakh in 2006. Though Jammu & Kashmir is one of
the less-populated States in the country, it sent the fifth biggest contingent
of pilgrims (6,630) for Haj in 2006. The Congress Government in Andhra Pradesh
has taken this policy of minorityism a step further and announced subsidy
for Christians who wish to visit Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus. However,
in the only Muslim-majority State in the Indian Union, Hindu pilgrims to the
Amarnath Shrine do not qualify for grant of a few acres of land along the
yatra route for provision of basic amenities. BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu put
it succinctly at a public meeting in New Delhi the other day when he said
the population of the Hindus may be 100 crore. But in India, Hindu pilgrims
are not entitled to even 100 acres.
Apart from the double standards practiced
by a national party, the Hindu majority in India has also to cope with the
blatant dishonesty of Muslim politicians of Jammu & Kashmir. They claim
that by allocating land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board, the State Government
has harmed the cause of 'Kashmiriyat'. Pray, what is 'Kashmiriyat'? If it
supposedly means the peaceful and harmonious co-existence of Hindus and Muslims,
we need to ask ourselves if that was ever there.
Any history book will tell us that the onslaught
on Hindus in Kashmir began in the 14th Century during the reign of Sultan
Sikander. Apart from destroying Hindu temples and breaking idols, he began
a systematic drive to proselytise Hindus, thus forcing large number of them
to convert or migrate. His successors like Sultan Ali Shah carried on the
'good work'. In more recent times, Islamic terrorists raped and killed Hindus,
burnt their homes and forced them to flee the Valley in 1989-90, leading to
the most comprehensive and cold-blooded instance of ethnic cleansing in this
region. An estimated three lakh Hindus have fled their homes and taken refuge
in Jammu and New Delhi. Yet, Kashmiri Muslim politicians have the temerity
to talk of 'Kashmiriyat' and communal amity in the State!
Even more preposterous is the argument relating
to demographic change. The whole world is aware of how Hindus were driven
out of the Valley. Yet, we have this disgusting spectacle of politicians like
Mr Omar Abdullah from the Valley stating publicly on television channels that
they oppose the transfer of 100 acres to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board because
they fear that through the transfer of these few acres of land "the demographic
character of Kashmir is being altered".
Mr Omar Abdullah is packaged by some media
houses as a 'liberal, secular' politician and is almost a permanent fixture
in some television studios during debates on minority rights. But the minority
rights he is concerned about are not the rights of the Hindu minority in his
home State but the rights of Muslims in the rest of India. The Amarnath land
allotment affair has completely exposed him.
Given his objections to the allotment of land,
we need to remind him that 'secularism', like charity, ought to begin at home.
He must first display some passion and commitment to defend the rights of
Hindus in the Kashmir Valley, just as there are many Hindu politicians in
the rest of India who stand up for the rights of the Muslim minority in their
States. Otherwise, his utterances will sound hypocritical and people from
other Indian States will be urging media houses to please shut out this man's
humbug.
Incidentally, Mr Omar Abdullah is not the
only Kashmiri politician who is given to double-speak. Take Mr Yasin Malik
for example. He claimed on television last week that Kashmiris "are the
most hospitable people in the world" and that the religious harmony that
prevails in the Kashmir Valley "is unique in the world". Yet another
gem from this man is that Kashmiri Muslims have been "taking care"
of Hindu pilgrims all these years.
Is amnesia a standard condition among Kashmiri
politicians or is it that they are completely disconnected from truth? Is
not Mr Malik aware of what his people have done to the Hindu minority in 1989-90?
Is he not aware of the number of Hindu pilgrims who have been killed by terrorists
during the Amarnath Yatra in previous years? Equally preposterous is his claim
that since Muslims "take care" of Hindu pilgrims, there is no need
for a Hindu Board to manage the Sri Amarnath Shrine! We should now ask Mr
Malik to please apply this logic to all Muslim shrines across India. Since
Hindus take such good care of Muslims (they even subsidise their pilgrimage,
build Haj terminals in airports and hospitals in Jeddah), why have Waqf Boards
and other Muslim religious bodies to manage mosques and dargahs?
All Indians who value democracy and a secular
order must challenge these purveyors of untruth and remind them that secularism
is not a one-way street.