Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, May 5: Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leaders today took out a peace march from CPO Chowk to Raj Bhawan in Jammu seeking free registration of Amarnath Yatra starting from 1st July.
Headed by Manish Sahni, scores of party workers and leaders of other Hindu organizations gathered at CPO Chowk, Jammu and took out a peace march towards Raj Bhawan Jammu. The protesters raised slogans for free Amarnath Yatra registration and toll exemption for devotees and Langar service vehicles.
According to Manish Sahni, a memorandum over the demands was also submitted to the Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, who is also the Chairman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board, along with Home Minister Amit Shah and the Chief Secretary of Jammu and Kashmir. Despite all this there was no positive response received from anywhere, he added.
“We belong to a country where subsidy was given for religious pilgrimages. Registration on Amarnath Yatra in 2019 was just Rs 50 which has been increased to Rs 220/120,” he said, adding that it cannot be tolerated.
Sahni said that Government encroachment on religious places of Hindus has become mere profit making. He said that the collection in the name of registration of religious visits of Hindus in a Hindu-majority country reminds of Jaziya of Mughal period. He said that if there is no positive response from the Government, Shiv Sena will stage a dharna at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi.
Sahni said that if the BJP Government sitting at the Centre does not take an immediate decision in favor of these demands, then it should give-up the claim of being a Hinduist.
Representatives of various social organizations including Thakur Hoshiyar Singh of Karni Sena, Col Pathania of Sainik Samaj Party, All United Party , socialist Satish Poonchi and others joined the peace march in Jammu and supported the demand of Shiv Sena.
Similar peace march was also taken out in Sopore of Kashmir. It was led by Party Working President Abdul Rasheed in Sopore in which Shiv Sainiks along with local Muslims participated.
Shiv Sena units across the country, including Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himachal, Bihar, UP, Karnataka, Assam also staged sit-in demonstrations over these demands.
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