President Pranab Mukherjee’s planned visit to Kedarnath on Wednesday remained a low key affair with inclement weather causing cancellation of the plan. But, it has once again elicited focus on the ‘VIP’ culture being facilitated in some of the Char Dham and other shrines in Uttarakhand. The impact of helicopter service to Kedarnath –which is grounded during the rains and inclement weather-- on the environment and local residents along with developments akin to commercialisation of pilgrimage have been eliciting criticism from the local residents, members of the spiritual fraternity, scientists and environmental experts but the authorities have remained apathetic.
Considering such ‘VIP’ visits especially to the Badrinath and Kedarnath shrines in the past couple of years, increased commercialisation in aspects of pilgrimage, criticism is emerging from among the religious fraternity and devotees who stress that all are equal as devotees in front of the lord. In case of unavoidable circumstances, some adjustments could be made for such visits but not at the cost of breaking tradition which has been maintained for centuries now, they state.
Members of the priest-fraternity point out that there have been cases especially in recent years, of centuries-old traditions being brushed aside for the convenience of ‘VIPs’ including elected public representatives, politicians, industrialists and those who can afford to make donations to the temple committee to receive special treatment. On April 24 last year, the Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi had visited Kedarnath by helicopter on the occasion of the reopening of the shrine’s portals to the public after six-month winter closure. Congress leaders including chief minister Harish Rawat were among the ‘VIP’ visitors apart from multitudes of devotees who had been queuing barefoot in queue outside the shrine for hours awaiting the moment of reopening. Instead of opening the temple's main portals to the public as per tradition, the 'VIP' door of the temple was reportedly opened first for the convenience of a select few participating in ‘special Puja’. The pilgrims who had reached Kedarnath earlier queuing barefoot for hours since the wee hours were upset at ‘VIPs’ hogging time and space in Kedarnath on the special occasion especially as devotees were also barred from going towards the shrine in the morning due to ‘VIP’ presence. More recently, this year the Garhwal MP and former CM BC Khanduri was reportedly allowed into the sanctum sanctorum of Badrinath through a side entrance before reopening of the portals. A devotee present on the occasion said that the multitudes of pilgrims who stand in queue for hours in the cold, get just a few moments to pay their obeisance to the deity before they are made to proceed further in a hurried manner to keep the serpentine queue of devotees moving. However, ‘VIP’ industrialists and politicians arrive here by chopper and face no problems attending rituals inside the temple without time constraints. In recent years such instances have been eliciting questions and even objection raised on the spot by devotees queuing to enter the shrine, said the devotee.
The head of Swami Ram Teertha Ashram Samiti, Kaka Hariom said that commercialisation and ‘VIP’ culture in pilgrimage is not in line with ancient traditions and the spirit of pilgrimage. Recently having lead a public awareness march from Badrinath to Rishikesh to protest and raise awareness on such changes in pilgrimage and tradition, Hariom expressed concern at increased focus on the commercial aspect and the impact of other ‘developments’ like facilitation of helicopter services to Kedarnath and other shrines. The substantial consumption of liquor and meat items on the pilgrimage circuit is also one of the factors exerting detrimental effect on the sanctity of Char Dham shrines along with the mindset of those undertaking pilgrimage as part of recreational activities, he added.