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Yatra: From piety to impiety
 Indian roads
these days are choked with frenzied kanwarias. And images from the
state of
Jammu and
Kashmir feature aggressively marching Hindu crowds as part of the
Amarnath Yatra instead of the devout trudging towards an abode of
peace.
The rise of
exhibitionism in religious activity is assuming sinister dimensions
in India.
The personal yatra in search of nirvana (truth) and solace has
assumed enormous proportions and generates religious fervour of such
magnitude that the individual is sacrificed at the altar of mass
hysteria.
The search for
truth and solitude in the domain of religion has been replaced by
demonstration of religiosity and crass violence in the name of
faith.
The piousness of
religion, the sanctity of professing the faith has been marred by a
new sinister turn to the basics of respective religions. Hinduism
preaches renunciation and pilgrimage to seek God. However, it does
not propose nor approve of stone pelting and lynching. Sikhism does
not preach religious pilgrimage and lays stress on practicing the
ideals of the faith, yet we find over zealousness for trips to
Hemkunt Sahib. There is a growing trend of emphasis on symbolism and
not on the essence of religion.
On the one hand
followers of religion do not want interference from the state, yet
do not hesitate to seek state intervention in the form of
concessions, facilities and subsidies. This dichotomy becomes a
bigger burden when the state discriminates and provides such
facilities to one religion and ignores the other.
From the Kumbh
melas to Amarnath Yatra, the government provides logistical support
to the participants in these mass functions, but to force the
government to sanction acres of forest land gratis in the face of
the other Kashmiris facing the onslaught of the Indian security
forces is to rub salt into their wounds. Those seeking forest lands
do not pause to think about the reasons for the melting of the
Amarnath lingam. They forget that no religion can go against the
call of God and against Mother Nature.
Religious
sensibilities in
India are always
on the edge. Of late, as exemplified in
Jammu and
Kashmir
over the past few days, fascist parties are violently challenging
the multicultural ethos of a state and its people which has already
been wronged on many fronts.
To make matters
worse and in a clear spirit of revenge, a former BJP member of
Parliament has filed a case in the Supreme Court of India
challenging the grant given by the state to the Haj pilgrims under
special legal provisions and this case has been admitted.
Where are we
heading? Where is this yatra going to lead us? This country has seen
the blood soaked roads from which the Rath Yatra of the
prime-minister-in-waiting Lal Krishan Advani traversed. The manner
in which the adherents of Advani are holding Jammu to ransom and the
conspiratorial silence of many others will take us all to a path
from where looking back and retuning will be impossible.
Every individual
has the right and the privilege to enjoy the beauty of his or her
religion and adhere to the tenets without harming any co-believer,
agnostic, atheist or those of a different faith. This nation or any
nation which will forget this basic tenet of human existence is
doomed to go to hell instead of heaven. Any nation whose top
political parties are busy in the highest court debating whether Ram
Sethu was man made, Ram made, nature made or whoever made must look
inwards and decide how is the debate related to the fate of the
country’s teeming millions that go hungry everyday, day after day,
year after year. The spirit of religion can be found in this
introspection, rather than grabbing forest land or blocking a
channel across the sea by citing Ram Ram.
29
July, 2008
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