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ARTICLE : Amarnath tragedy : Solution in Hindu self-help
Title : Solution in Hindu self-help
Author : Swapan Dasgupta
Publication : The Indian Express
Date : August 31, 1996
In any other democracy, the death of some 300 or so
citizens in the course of a pilgrimage would have
occasioned an almighty furore, not to speak of political
convulsions. It says something about our relative
unconcern for human life that this week's Amarnath yatra
tragedy has not led to anything more than a round of
cursory editorials, indignation in Parliament and routine
stonewalling by the Government. So casual has been our
attitude to photographs of bodies lying on the dirt track
from Pahalgam, that the Government has not even thought
it appropriate to do what all administrations do to
offset embarrassment - order a judicial inquiry.
In a macabre display of callousness, a combative H. D.
Deve Gowda read out a prepared text to Parliament
claiming "we have done our best". A more insensate
Communist Home Minister did grudgingly admit "lacunas in
the arrangements here and there", but steered clear of
indignant pilgrims when he finally arrived by helicopter
in Pahalgam. Meanwhile, Indrajit Gupta's groupies
outside Parliament began a whisper campaign blaming the
ubiquitous communal forces for this year's heavy rush of
pilgrims to the Amarnath cave. The underlying message
was clear: serve the heathens right for undertaking a
hazardous journey, and all for the sake of an ice-covered
stalagmite.
This arrogant condescension - so visible during the Home
Minister's exchange with Atal Behari Vajpayee in the Lok
Sabha should, by now, be familiar. Cosmopolitan India,
steeped in either the virtues of godlessness or the lofty
aloofness of advaita, has increasingly failed to come to
terms with Hindu ritualism. Whether it is the din of the
local Bhagwati jagran, the bustle of the holy dip at the
Kumbh mela or the arduous 50 km trek from Pahalgam to the
Amarnath cave, there is angry bewilderment over the
persistence of "superstition". Pilgrimages and religious
carnivals may be appropriate subjects for well produced
ethnographic films on Britain's Channel Four or DD3
documenting exotic India, but they are thought to be
unworthy of intrusion into the public space.
Particularly when they acquire a pan-Indian character and
become a facet of what is dismissively referred to as
"syndicated Hinduism".
It is a mindset of contempt for an India that refuses to
"modernise" its soul which is behind the indifference to
this year's Amarnath yatra disaster. As the scale of the
tragedy unfolds, impertinent and silly questions are
being asked. Why were the elderly and physically weak
allowed to undertake the difficult trek to the cave?
Since there was a carnival like atmosphere prevailing
before the storm, were the pilgrims pious devotees of
Lord Shiva or plain revellers? Why should the Government
be blamed for the sudden deterioration in the weather?
The scepticism betrays a profound ignorance of Indian
custom. Pilgrimages are traditionally undertaken by
those who are nearing the end of their life as
householders. The journey is partly for the sake of an
elusive moksha, but more as an undefined worthy action
which yields results in time. Often it is a mere
continuation of a family tradition - hence the importance
attached to recording the pilgrim's presence in the books
of the pandas at say, Hardwar, Puri and Varanasi. It is
also in part a solemn occasion, but solemnity in popular
Hinduism is rarely equated with grimness. The element of
fun cannot be detached from teerth yatras, and certainly
not from Lord Shiva. When a Hindu returns from a
pilgrimage, he not only brings home the prasada, but also
carts a bagful of inexpensive souvenirs - usually
replicas or pictures of gods and godesses which adorn the
puja altar, and wooden toys for the children - to
commemorate his visit. It has been so for as long as
anyone can care to remember.
The underlying merriment behind the teerth yatra cannot,
however, be used as a ruse to detract from the
Government's shameful dereliction of duty in Amarnath.
To begin with, the administration was well aware that
this year's yatra would attract a higher-than-usual
number of pilgrims, not least because last year's journey
was undertaken in the shadow of terrorist threat.
Realising this, the State Government actually blew its
own trumpet about the lavish preparations for the yatris.
On July 29, The Indian Express (Delhi edition) reported
from Jammu that "Adequate arrangements have been made for
tented accommodation, blankets, water supply,
electricity, ration and firewood at various halting
places en route the shrine." The Jammu and Kashmir
Government also made it mandatory for the pilgrims to
register themselves before commencing the journey, and a
registration-cum-service charge of Rs 50 was collected
from each visitor. In short, the administration was
fully aware of the volume of traffic to the Amarnath
cave.
The apparent state of administrative readiness was also
reiterated by the Prime Minister in his reply to the Lok
Sabha on August 27. Reinforcing his we-have-done-our-
best plea, Gowda maintained that 1,200 tents had been
pitched at each of the three sites at Chandanwari,
Seshnag and Panchtarni. Each site was capable of
accommodating between 18,000 and 20,000 visitors. In
addition, he stressed the presence of 39 free langars
(kitchens).
The invaluable role of the langars run by charitable
organisations in feeding the stranded pilgrims has been
widely reported in the media. The part played by local
people and the Border Security Force jawans in assisting
the sick has also been praised. But neither the
returning pilgrims nor reporters covering the yatra have
mentioned the tented accommodation for 54,000 people.
Whatever happened to those tents?
The cruel answer is that they probably never existed.
According to The Indian Express correspondent who was
stranded in Seshnag, there were 300 tents in Chandanwari,
100 in Seshnag and a mere 50 in Panchtarni. If his
version is correct, only 12.5 per cent of the tents
claimed by the Government to have been pitched were
actually in place. The conclusion is inescapable: the
Government wilfully misled the nation. It cannot now
avoid direct responsibility for the majority of deaths
that took place in the yatra. Bad weather may have
played a part, but the scale of the tragedy could have
been minimised had the administration fulfilled its
commitments.
There is little percentage in demanding the resignation
of the Jammu and Kashmir Governor and the Union Home
Minister for dereliction of duty. The death of Hindu
pilgrims is too unfashionable and too politically
incorrect a cause to warrant such drastic action.
Instead, Hindus will have to draw a very different
conclusion from this year's tragedy: that it is futile to
expect secular governments to be sensitive to religious
aspirations.
The time has come for Hindu organisations to take the
management of pilgrimages in their own hands, using their
own resources. Sensitivity can only come when there is a
shared commitment to the worthiness of ritualised faith.
