SUMAN K SHRIVASTAVA
Ranchi, Jan 2: At a time when close to 60 percent of domestic tourism in India is driven by religious fervour, the Jain community has launched a nationwide protests against the Jharkhand Government’s notification declaring Sammed Shikharji, located at Parasnath Hills in Giridih as a tourist spot.
The Jains say that 20 of their 24 Tirthankars (saviours and spiritual teachers) had attained Mahanirvana (salvation) on the Parasnath Hills, referred to as Sammed Shikharji.
The community believes that converting the place into a tourist spot would make it difficult to maintain the sanctity of the place or the ban on non-vegetarian food there.
But the protests have surprised one and all as the notification which has triggered the protests across the country had been issued some three years back. And it was not only for Sammed Shikharji. It had been declared as a tourist spot of international importance alongwith 23 other places on February 20, 2019 by the then BJP government led by Raghubar Das. The other places include Baidyanath Dham temple (Deoghar), Basukinath Dham and Maluti temples (Dumka), Chhinnmastika temple (Ramgarh), Itkhori, Kauleshwari temple(Chatra), Deori temple (Ranchi), Ramrekha dham (Simdega) and Banshidhar temple in Garhwa.
Governor Ramesh Bais, besides several politicians have also urged the central government to act on the Jain community’s plea on the sacred place that people travel to as an act of religious devotion.
The Governor has said that this matter is related to the sentiments of the people of Jain society, so that their sentiments are not hurt, keeping in mind their faith, this subject should be re-reviewed and reconsidered so that this holy place can be restored. The sanctity of the temple should not be hurt and Parasnath Parvatraj and Madhuvan should be allowed to remain holy Jain pilgrimage sites.
A Jharkhand government official, however, said that during the last three years, we have done nothing or created any infrastructures which will undermine the religious sanctity of the Sammed Sikharji or religious sentiments of the Jain community. So, we fail to understand what triggered their fears and protests now.”
The tourist place notification only facilitates the State government to spend the funds in a focussed manner. “Earlier, the State tourism department used to spend funds randomly. So, these places were notified for the tourism department to utilise the funds at notified places to create infrastructures to attract more and more tourists,” he added. “It is part of our policy to promote religious tourism in Jharkhand, ” he added.
“The district administration has prohibited the sale of meat or liquor around the sanctum sanctorum. But we cannot restrict the entry of non-Jains to the place,” he added.
Moreover, the Central Environment and Forest ministry had also declared Parasnath wildlife sanctuary alongwith Topchanchi wildlife sanctuary as eco-sensitive zone on August 19, 2019.
Under the central government notification, no new commercial hotels and resorts shall be permitted within one kilometer of the boundary of the protected area or upto the extent of Eco-sensitive Zone, whichever is nearer, except for small temporary structures for eco-tourism
activities:
Also. new commercial construction of any kind shall not be
permitted within one kilometer from the boundary of the protected area or upto extent of the Eco-sensitive Zone, whichever is nearer, However, local people have been permitted to
undertake construction in their land for their use.
Ajay Jain, executive member of the local Jain Samaj, believed that some messages from the Whatsapp university and rush of people in recent months are said to have triggered nationwide protests by the Jain community.
“I feel that lack of knowledge has also added fuel to the fire. We do not want to politicise this issue. We believe that the government should ensure the sacredness of the place, declaring it a religious one prohibiting sale of meat, liquor within four km of the area. We want restrictions on taking such goods as shoes, slippers, liquor, mobiles, water bottle, mutton as is applicable in Vishwanath temple or Balaji temple,” he added.
“We never demand a ban on entry of non-Jains as Parasnath belongs to everyone,” he added.
Bramhachari Tarun Bhaiyaji from Indore says that we had no knowledge about the notification earlier. “We have begun protests after we came to know about it,” he added.
Explaining the difference between a religious place and a tourist place, he said, “We go to a religious place for a pilgrimage and visit a tourist place for fun, entertainment and picnic. There should not be restrictions on people visiting the place, we only want them to follow the protocol and the ways of worshipping. For example, we offer water to Lord Shiva but when we go to Hanuman temple, we offer sindoor. So, the government should declare it a pilgrimage site where people will follow our ‘pooja padhhati’.”
Citing an example, he said that people go to Switzerland for fun and enjoy holidays. They don’t go there to offer prayers. Likewise, people visiting Parasnath should have in mind that they are visiting there for offering prayers and not for a picnic. “We do not want Parasnath to be a Switzerland,” he added.
