Imagine a comrade organising a havan at a Hindu temple in militancy-prone Akingam in south Kashmir after 17 long years!
Vinod Pandita wants to reopen all ancient shrines in the Jammu and Kashmir
SRINAGAR: Imagine a comrade organising a havan at a Hindu temple in militancy-prone Akingam in south Kashmir after 17 long years!
This, in fact, is the truth. 39-year-old Vinod Pandita, a former state convener of the left-backed Students’ Federation of India (SFI) has embarked on a difficult and risky mission to reopen the ancient temples and shrines that were closed after the onset of militancy and migration of pandits in 1990. So far, ten shrines have been reopened. There are 200 more to go.
Pandita fled his south Kashmir home in 1990 to seek shelter in the hot and humid Jammu fearing militant retribution. Two years’ back, he returned with a mission to reopen all the Hindu shrines which were shut after the onset of militancy and migration of Kashmir pandits.
“There are around 600 temples and shrines which are closed in Kashmir region. And we have zeroed in on 200 ancient shrines and temples. In next three years, we expect to reopen all of those for public,” said Pandita, who also heads the All Kashmir Migrants Coordination Committee.
From a hardcore comrade to curator of temples and shrines, Pandita, a former state convener of SFI, is now a devout pandit.
“I was a very active student communist leader before 1989. But when I realised that the left leaders in Kashmir are worse than the capitalists, I decided to call it a day. After migration I fled to Jammu. Fifteen years later, I decided to revive Kashmiryat and bring Muslims and Pandits together. That is why I chose to reopen the temples,” he said.
A graduate from the government degree college at Anantnag, Pandita lives in Jammu with his family. He spends most of the time in Kashmir though, trying to reopen the temples. “Wherever we have gone, Kashmiri Muslims have welcomed us with open arms. During one of the reopening ceremonies at Sagam, thousands of Kashmiri Muslims came to us and took the pandit devotees to their homes. It was a like a second homecoming for pandits. This is the real CBM which brings two communities closer,” said Pandita.
Since the pandits left, some unscrupulous people have usurped the temple lands and desecrated deities, he said.
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