Environment? Really?!

The recent Amarnath Temple controversy kind of cemented my opinion of what 'secularism' has done to India - enabled the 'minority religions' to basically hold the rest of the country to ransom. For those who may be wondering what I am talking about, it is the controversy over the transfer of land to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board in order to build temporary structures for the benefit of pilgrims going to the Amarnath Temple - one of the holiest Hindu shrines from time immemorial. Needless to say, the secular forces (read Muslims and those who appease Muslims) won, and the land transfer has been revoked.

This is so shameful and unfair because it is evident double standards. Specially when you consider the fact that some of the groups which opposed the land transfer have said, besides making the claim that erecting temporary structures for pilgrims in the said area will cause damage to the environment, that this was an attempt by 'outsiders' to take over Jammu & Kashmir slowly!!!! Can you really beat that statement?! Is J&K outside of India? Are the thousands of Hindus who make the pilgrimage every year, like they have been for thousands of years, from even before anything called 'Islam' existed in the world, 'outsiders'??!! If you take the true history of India, are not Islam and Muslims outsiders? Have the Hindus not allowed them to settle here and now live in peace and considered them fellow countrymen?

Everyone knows that for a long long time, we have been paying for Nehru's pacifism in going to the UNO with the Kashmir problem, when it was (and still is) a purely internal issue. Since then, there have always been separatists trying to twist the Center's arm into a plebiscite and get J&K out of the Indian Union. This land transfer issue is another incident which shows of the separatist tendencies that has been breading in J&K. Can any Chief Minister, of whatever religion he may be, think of revoking any land transfer to an Islamic shrine? Why should the Amarnath Board be dismantled and the J&K government take over the running of the Amarnath temple when we have a National Haj Board which provides highly subsidized travel to Muslims all the way to Mecca at the expense of crores of rupees of the general public's money?!

And really, if this was really revoked due to concerns for the environment, why did the government dilly-dally so much about the Ram Setu issue? It will clearly have a huge negative impact on the environment if dredging of the Ram Setu is allowed. Even if it is considered that it is a natural formation, it is a very important formation - it supports rich marine life, and acts as a natural barrier in case, God forbid, we have another tsunami. And, yes, Hindus hold it sacred and believe that it was built by Lord Rama who is revered by the entire Hindu community, why not respect that? And, can anyone who saw the images of the protests by these so called lovers of the environment say that they care a hoot for the environment? I don't know of a single true environmentalist who would burn buses and tyres to drive home the importance of protecting the environment!

I hope to see an India where Muslims and Christians and everyone else will be Indians before they are of this or that religion. An India where the Amarnath yatris are also given the facilities and freedom from the fear of getting killed by militants while on the holy trek, as the Haj pilgrims are. Or, if that isn’t possible, where all subsidies for all religions are done away with. Where Hindus will not have to live in fear in their own homeland. Will that happen in my lifetime?