Pandits try to restore damaged Valley temples
Sumit Hakhoo
Tribune News Service
Jammu, July 22
As the fate of Hindu Shrines and Religious Places (Management and Regulation) Bill continues to hang in the balance, the displaced Kashmiri Pandits are making efforts to restore their age-old shrines in the Valley which were burnt and vandalised after exodus of the community in 1990.
After remaining in shambles for years, Mata Katyayani temple in Kulgam which was reconstructed with efforts of the Pandit community would hold one of the largest religious congregations on July 23.
In recent years, Pandit organisations on individual level have revived many pilgrimage centres like Devsar, Manzgam, Harmokh Ganga yatra, where Hindus had stopped visiting due to militancy.
“The Katyayani temple was destroyed by a rampaging mob in the aftermath of the Babri Masjid demolition in 1992. In 2012, we collected money and started its restoration. The work has been completed and we will organise the fourth annual hawan at the site later this year,” said Vinod Pandit, chairman of the All Party Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC).
To its credit, the committee has also restored several other pilgrimage centres in Kashmir.
There are several social organisations that are collecting donations in Jammu and other parts of the country from the community members to rebuild the Valley shrines as successive governments have failed to pass the “Temple Bill”, which could have given legal protection to the religious places belonging to Hindus.
As per the government data, more than 200 temples in the Kashmir valley were damaged after the eruption of armed insurgency, which led to exodus of 3.50 lakh Hindus.
However, in the absence of any mechanism to protect the religious sites of the minority community these properties become a major target of land sharks, who allegedly managed to change the land records in connivance with some revenue officials.
“If the government wants to resettle Pandits in the Valley restoration of temples will be a major confidence building measure, but not much has been done in this regard. The Hindu community from Kashmir is feeling dejected by the policies of government and control of some organisations who are brazenly misusing their authority,” said Sanjay Saraf, who contested the Assembly elections from Habbakadal constituency on the Lok Janshakti Party.
Pertinently, National Conference leader and former Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, as the Leader of Opposition during the PDP-Congress government (2002-08) had first brought a private member’s bill (Temple bill) in 2006. It was put before the Assembly in 2009, when the NC-Congress government was in power. But the bill was deferred.
A select committee of the Legislative Assembly submitted its report in this regard in 2014, but the bill was not passed due to opposition from several MLAs.
The Pandits are seeking enactment of a law for constitution of a board on the pattern of Muslim Auqaf Trust and the Gurdwara Parbandhak Board.
According to the community, though encroachment of temple land by majority community with active help of fundamentalist elements started after 1947 when Maharaja Hari Singh abdicated his throne, the first targeted destruction of temples in Kashmir was carried out during 1986 riots in Anantnag district.
