Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 5: The BJP government at the Centre has stayed the operation of the 2019 notification of the BJP government in Jharkhand designating Sammed Shikhariji, one of the major pilgrim centre of the Jains, as “eco-tourism” destination.
Reacting to the strong protests by Jains over the issue, the central government on Thursday issued an official order halting all such activities in the larger Parasnath Hills sanctuary, the main shrine of the Jains in the country.
It has also told the state to act strictly against banned practices such as consumption of liquor or “defiling of sites of religious and cultural significance” or damage to the ecology.
Jain community leaders, some of whom met Union Environment Minister Bhupendra Yadav in Delhi on Thursday, expressed the fear that designating the place as a tourist destination may “hurt its sanctity,” and religious sentiments of the Jains. Sammed Shikhar falls in the eco-sensitive zone of Parasnath Wildlife Sanctuary and Topchanchi Wildlife Sanctuary.
“There is a list of prohibited activities that can’t take place in and around the designated eco-sensitive area. Restrictions will be followed in letter and spirit,” Yadav wrote on Twitter.
Earlier in the day, the incumbent Chief Minister Hemant Soren wrote to the Centre to seek “appropriate decisions” on the state government’s 2019 notification. He wrote that the state’s 2021 tourism policy — it is also being opposed by the community — is for forming a management board that can better manage the shrine. Led by the state’s Tourism Secretary, it will have six non-government members who are being chosen from the Jain community, the letter said. It added that the community’s opposition was to declaring Parasnath Hills, where the shrine is located, as an “eco-tourism” area.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress government has been arguing that the original notifications were done by BJP governments, and that the Centre needed to act. BJP’s Raghubar Das, who was chief minister in 2019, has also said wrong decisions can be corrected now.
The letter came days after the Union Environment Ministry wrote to the state asking it to “recommend necessary modifications for further needful action.”
About two hours later, The Union Ministry issued a memo saying that the 2019 notification’s clause dealing with tourism activities be “stayed” immediately. Union Tourism Minister G Kishan Reddy, too, said at a press meet that “nothing will be done to harm anyone’s religious feelings.” He stressed that eco-tourism meant no permanent structures, restaurants and such, in that area. The Centre’s memo further said at least two members of the management board have to be from the Jain community.
The shrine in Parasnath Hills in Giridih district, home to the highest peak in the state some 160 km from state capital Ranchi, is among the holiest places of the Jains, including for both Digambar and Shwetambar sects, as 20 of the 24 Jain Tirthankaras are believed to have attained ‘moksha’ (salvation) here. Jains are a small minority — around 1 per cent of India’s population — but have been influential in business and form about 5 per cent of Mumbai City district, considered the country’s financial capital.