In Jharkhand, JMM, BJP spar over Parasnath row

RANCHI: As hundreds of protesters from the Jain community marched to Raj Bhavan to thwart any attempts to turn the Parasnath hills into a tourist spot, a political slugfest unfolded with both ruling and opposition camps trading charges against each other.
While the Jain community is demanding the sanctity of Sammad Shikarji on Parasnath hills - a revered religious site of the community be preserved, the BJP accused the incumbent Hemant Soren government of playing with sentiments of the Jains. The ruling JMM on the other hand called for a public apology by PM Narendra Modi and his government, accusing the previous BJP state government for the mess.
For many months, Jains across the country have been protesting against the Jharkhand government's notification of this place as a tourist site, this despite, authorities saying they are mulling cancellation of the earlier notification. On Tuesday morning, over 1,000 Jains marched to Raj Bhavan from Jain Mandir near Saheed Chowk holding banners and posters. A delegation also submitted a memorandum to the governor, demanding annulment of the tourist site notification or re-issuance of a fresh one, declaring the place as a pilgrimage site.
"The inflow of tourists is also leading to consumption of non-vegetarian food and alcohol in the area, which is hurting their religious sentiments," said a protestor.
Opposition BJP joined the bandwagon in support of the demand of the Jain community. Former tourism minister and BJP's MLA from Chanankyari Amar Bauri in a formal statement has claimed that the entire controversy flared up after Soren government issued a gazette publication of its new tourism policy, 2021 in February this year. "The current government in February this year notified its new tourism policy, 2021 in which it has classified Parasnath, Deoghar temple among others as religious tourism sites. That's where the entire controversy broke and today Jain community are protesting on streets in the country. Soren government must immediately declare it as a religious pilgrimage site without delay, if it is genuinely concerned," said Bauri.
Ruling JMM however lashed out at Bauri and BJP for misleading the public. JMM's central general secretary Supriyo Bhattacharjee said on February 22, 2019, the government published an official gazette about tourist spots in Jharkhand where it has classified all the prominent places across 24 districts as per its significance.
"Parasnath has been classified as a tourist spot of international significance. This is in contradiction to October 22, 2018, departmental notification of the tourism department. Who was in power then? BJP, both in Centre and state. However, they are now trying to build a false narrative against Soren government," he said.
"Any cancellation has to be done by GOI as it was published in the official gazette by them and state doesn't have the power to overrule that. Having said that, the government here has already cleared that it doesn't have any plans to 'promote tourism' here. We now demand PM, his government and his party to issue public apology to Jain community and address their concerns," added Bhattacharjee.