Political, religious groups criticize J&K administration’s order on ‘Surya Namaskar’
Highlight
- The Jammu and Kashmir administration had directed college heads to conduct ‘Surya Namaskar’ on a large scale on Makar Sankranti.
- MMU strongly opposed this order saying that Jammu and Kashmir is Muslim majority.
Various political and religious groups on Friday criticized the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s order directing college heads of the Union Territory to conduct ‘Surya Namaskar’ on a large scale on the occasion of Makar Sankranti. The event was to be held online as part of the Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations on Friday and higher education department officials did not respond to queries about it.
The Muttahida Majlis-e-Ulema (MMU), a group of several religious organisations, strongly opposed the order and said the authorities were well aware that Jammu and Kashmir is Muslim-majority and like people of other religions, Muslims do not participate. Will take In the religious practices of other religions. It said, deliberately forcing them to do so by issuing directions is mischievous.
“The Muslims of Jammu and Kashmir respect all religions and believe in harmonious coexistence, but will never succumb to any pressure, if there is any interference in matters relating to their faith,” the statement said.
“The open call for genocide of Muslims of India at a recent religious conference in Haridwar and the state’s silence in this regard is a shocking case of bigotry and discrimination against Muslims, which has become the order of the day,” it alleged. Put it. The amalgamation asked the administration to refrain from issuing such orders in future.
Former chief ministers – Omar Abdullah and Mehbooba Mufti – and various political parties also criticized the order. “Why should Muslim students be forced to do anything including yoga to celebrate Makar Sankranti? Makar Sankranti is a festival and celebrating it should be a personal choice. Will the BJP be happy if a similar order continues for non-compliance? -Muslim students will celebrate Eid?” National Conference vice-president Abdullah wrote on Twitter.
Mehbooba, who is also the PDP president, said the Centre’s “accidents” are aimed at collectively “humiliating” Kashmiris. “The purpose of PR misadventure of the Government of India is to degrade and collectively humiliate Kashmiris. In a tweet, Mehbooba said, “Forcing students and staff to perform Surya Namaskar by issuing orders shows their communal mindset despite the apparent inconvenience of imposing something laden with religious connotations.”
People’s Conference (PC) president Sajjad Gani Lone also criticized the directive saying that what liberal Muslims had earned was being undone by the administration.
In a series of tweets, Lone said that the government will not succeed and the will of the people will eventually prevail.
“Why is the government so insensitive. Now comes the Surya Namaskar episode. I wish the government of that time understood that the war between liberals and fundamentalists was very important along with the many bloody battles fought in Kashmir,” Lone wrote on Twitter.
“And these were not verbal battles. The blood of the liberal Muslim of Kashmir was shed on the streets. The liberals fought to keep alive the secular liberal traditions of Kashmir. They fought violence. They fought bullets. Liberals made sacrifices.” Lone said that with the ‘Surya Namaskar’ directive, the government was “imitating fundamentalists”.
“We have seen the brute force of fundamentalists in the nineties. U will not succeed. The will of the people will eventually prevail,” he said. Apni party president Syed Mohammad Altaf Bukhari also strongly opposed the order and said that educational institutions should be kept away from “political maneuvering” and emphasis should be laid on providing quality education to the students.
“Celebrating the festival is a personal choice and the state has no right to interfere in it. However, this recent order to perform Surya Namaskar in Jammu and Kashmir colleges is undoubtedly a dangerous venture with serious implications. The administration should stop communalizing the educational environment and focus on upgrading these educational facilities,” he said.
He asked the government to withdraw the controversial order and refrain from issuing such arbitrary decrees in future.
Read also: ‘Muslim children should be avoided’: AIMPLB opposes government’s order on Surya Namaskar
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