Amarnath is about nationalists vs separatists: Advani

“The Amarnath issue is not about Hindus versus Muslims, rather it’s about nationalists versus separatists,” Advani wrote.

He demanded restoration of land to the shrine board in compliance with a court order.

“We urge the government to restore the original cabinet order rather than adopt a do-nothing policy,” Advani said in the letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.

The decision to cancel the land allotment to the board is a violation of the High Court orders and amounts to contempt of court, he said.

The court orders need to be complied with. The mandate of the legislation has to be obeyed, the BJP’s Prime Ministerial candidate said in the letter.

“It is with a deep sense of disappointment that I am writing to you with regard to the issue,” he said in the letter alleging that the UPA is both ‘out of depth’ and ‘not very serious’ about finding a solution to the problem.

“The recent events have shown that the people in Jammu are now determined to assert in order to claim their fair share in the matter of both governance and development of the region,” he said in the letter.

He alleged that the people of Jammu division have ‘suffered from gross discrimination’ as census is not fairly and regularly done and delimitation is deferred.

“There is discrimination in the matter of public employment, disbursal of funds and development of region,” he said.

“They (people of Jammu) are told on each occasion. if fairness is shown to the people of Jammu, the psyche of the Valley will be hurt,” he added.

Advani contended that the problem in Jammu and Kashmir ‘is essentially nationalists versus separatists’.

“There is huge sense of hurt and injury in Indian public opinion which has resulted in the nationalist opinion being alienated because the separatists have to be pleased,” he said in the letter to Singh.

It appears that the government of India has misread the nationalist mood of the people of Jammu which is also supported by strong public opinion in the country. This is the first time in history that the government has succeeded in even alienating nationalist opinion, he added.

Advani also claimed that the provision of amenities to the pilgrims in Amarnath Yatra should be done by the shrine board as it was entitled for the religious denomination to establish and maintain the religious places.