Events & Issues

New Delhi, 27 January 2009

Shrine Board Controversy

MAKING GROUND FOR AMARNATH-II?

By Sant Kumar Sharma

The newly formed National Conference-Congress government in Jammu and Kashmir may well be heading for troubled times, this time of its own making. The State Congress Chief and Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz appears to have laid the foundation for a huge controversy in the days to come, by requesting Governor N N Vohra to include a member of the Buta Malik (a Muslim) family in the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).

Vohra, as the SASB chairman, had recently reconstituted the board by nominating six eminent persons. Those included were Sri Sri Ravishankar, Dr Kapila Vatsayan, noted environmentalist Sunita Narayan, Justice (Retd.) G  D Sharma, Pandit Bhajan Sopori and Dr Ved Kumari Ghai. However, as there are some vacanies left, Soz wrote to Vohra last week suggesting that a member of the Buta Malik family to fill one such vacancy. But it is easier said than done as there are too many questions that the demand is likely to raise.

The nominations were made by the Governor under Jammu and Kashmir Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine Act, 2000 (Act No XVII of 2000), enforced vide SRO 54 dated 12.02.2001 with effect from 21.02.2001. By this Act, “the administration, management and governance of the Shri Amarnath Ji Shrine and the Board fund” is vested in a board “comprising a Chairman and not more than 10 members”.

Under the Act, “The Governor of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, if he be a Hindu, shall be the ex-officio Chairman of the Board, and if the Governor be not a Hindu, then he may nominate any eminent person of the State, professing the Hindu religion, and otherwise qualified to be a Member to function and the Chairman of the Board’’.

Therefore, it is crystal clear that the Governor himself (or herself) cannot be the chairman if he or she is not a Hindu. The spirit of the Act is thus plain and it does not allow for a Muslim to be a member of the SASB.

Regrettably, through his suggestion Soz has tried to subvert this mandate, at a time when the relations between the Jammu and the Kashmir regions are not at the very best. In fact, his demand also has the potential to create further communal polarization. Not just for a region, but for the entire state. Observers fear that if this demand is fulfilled, the repercussions may be felt far and wide, way beyond the State’s boundaries. After all, last year’s Amarnath land row and issues related to the shrine have had the potential to stir Hindus all over India and even abroad.

Incidentally, Buta Malik is credited with having rediscovered the cave of Shri Amarnath in 1850 and for 150 years, the members of his family were associated with the conduct of the annual Amarnath pilgrimage till the creation of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board. When the board was created, the hereditary rights of the family over the affairs of the Amarnath shrine were taken away.

Incidentally, simultaneously with the Buta Malik family, the rights of the Dashnami Akhara, which is the custodian of the Chhari Mubarak (holy mace) of Shri Amarnath Ji, in the chadhava (offerings by devotees) were extinguished.

All this was done through none lese than a legislation duly passed in the State Legislative Assembly. The National Conference President Farooq Abdullah was then the Chief Minister and since then, no Muslim has ever been a member of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).

What is the logic of Soz’s demand in seeking representation for a Muslim on board the governing body of a Hindu shrine? The way governing bodies associated with affairs of various religious denominations are being run members of the respective religions or sects run their affairs without interference from anyone.

The Shaivite Hindus run their affairs according to Shaivite practices just as Vaishnavites run their own affairs according to their own beliefs. Similarly, the Protestants and Catholics run their own affairs and the members of one sect are not allowed to participate in governing boards of another, leave aside religion.

In the Muslim community, the divide is along sectarian lines and the Shias and the Sunnis have separate Wakf boards. As the names denote, the Shia wakf boards are run by Shia Muslims alone and the Sunni wakfs are run by Sunni Muslims. No Shia is a member of a Sunni board or vice versa. Even in the case of Sikhs, the affairs of the community are conducted by the Sikh Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) and nobody else but a Sikh can be a member of its governing body.

All across India, traditions shows that there is no place where members of one community or followers of one religion or another participate in governing the affairs of another community. The Congress must watch out its electoral prospects in the coming Lok Sabha elections. They might just get seriously compromised if a Muslim is made a member of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).

Remember that when Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board (SMVDSB) was created in 1986, the hereditary rights of the Baridaars (descendents of Pandit Shridhar, the founder of the holy cave shrine) were extinguished. What is so special about the so-called “rights” of Buta Malik family, which the Congress State President is trying to get restored?

Those aware of the request are a worried lot because if the demand is conceded, it has all the potential of fanning communal passions in the Jammu region for sure (as also elsewhere in India among the Hindus). By airing his views in this manner, the Union Minister may have scored some brownie points with some sections in Kashmir but in the process has rubbed the Hindus the wrong way.

A word of caution is thus necessary for young Omar Abdullah’s Government. The Governor can ill afford to concede to such a demand and the Congress should not push for it. If it does, the State can as well say goodbye to any hopes of a bumper tourist season in the coming months as the foundations of Amarnath II would have been laid firmly. Building up an agitation on the basis of appointment of a Muslim on a Hindu shrine board will not be a difficult task for the 11 opposition legislators of the BJP. It should not be forgotten that the people voted for peace

With the next round of elections, the Lok Sabha poll, round the corner, there is no better way to fan communal passions than implementing Soz’s suggestion. Years ago his single vote, in defiance of the National Conference whip, had toppled Vajpayee’s  government.

It is even more pertinent to remember that far from becoming weaker the BJP had come back to power and completed a full five-year tenure in the office at the Centre in the following general election. Another aspect worth remembering is that Ghulam Nabi Azad’s Congress-led government had bowed out of office on the issue of Amarnath land row. The NC-Congress combine does not need enemies, specially not at the every beginning. ---INFA   

 (Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)