The takeover of these religious bodies was done through legislations: Vaishno Devi Shrine Board was set up in 1986, Amarnath in 2000, J&K Muslim Waqf Board in 2003. According to the law, the governor, if Hindu, will be the chairman of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board and Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, in ex officio capacity. The Muslim Waqf Board is led by the chief minister, if Muslim. The move to bring religious bodies within the domain of the Raj Bhavan and chief minister’s office improved pilgrims’ facilities but has dangerous political ramifications.

The controversy began when Governor Lt Gen (retd) S.K. Sinha decided to extend the annual Amarnath yatra from the traditional one-month pilgrimage to two months in 2004. The then chief minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, declined, citing an additional burden on the state machinery, besides the weather. The issue threatened to assume a communal and regional dimension as four Congress ministers from Jammu resigned. The Congress’s entire Jammu leadership, along with the BJP, openly supported the governor. Interestingly, the Congress’s Kashmir unit and the members of cabinet from the Valley remained silent. The crisis subsided only after the Centre intervened, but the bitterness continued to trouble the relations between the elected state government and Raj Bhavan.

Then came the state government’s decision to grant an extension to the then vice-chancellor of Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences, Hashamtullah Khan — promptly turned down by the governor, who is chancellor of the university.

The politics on the issue of the Amarnath Shrine Board became more intense after Ghulam Nabi Azad took over as chief minister. The Kashmir-centric PDP started accusing Sinha of trying to further a hidden Hindutva agenda. The public statements, however, were limited to “destruction of environment” and “governor’s disregard towards the authority of the elected government”. The PDP’s entire constituency is within Kashmir and so a row with Raj Bhavan was a favourable political device.

Azad, nevertheless, maintained cordial relations with Sinha for two reasons. With Raj Bhavan on his side, Azad enjoyed a strategic lead over his difficult coalition partner. The major chunk of Azad’s constituency is in Jammu where the rift between the ruling PDP and Sinha over the Amarnath Shrine Board has an entirely different connotation.

The latest confrontation began when Sinha wrote a letter to the state government, seeking the formation of a separate Amarnath Development Authority covering both the yatra routes from Pahalgam and Baltal. This was immediately translated as Raj Bhavan’s plan to acquire a large piece of territory within the valley where the writ of the elected government will not run. The fear of the Board turning into an extra-constitutional entity was further substantiated when Raj Bhavan declined to respond to a question. In answer, it asked the House to tell the legislator who had asked the question about the Board, that he does not enjoy the powers to question the decision of a body headed by the governor.

The opposition National Conference is ready to rethink the legislation that made the governor the head of the shrine boards. It is, in fact, supporting the separation of religious affairs from the government. Its intentions might be sincere but the reason for this change of heart too has a political twist. Its arch-rival, the PDP, used the NC’s own argument in bringing more than 100 shrines administered by the NC-managed Muslim Auqaf Trust within government control. These shrines had been a traditional stronghold of the NC. The PDP wanted to diminish NC influence and thus brought a legislation to set up J&K Muslim Waqf Board led by the chief minister. Within the first two years of the new Board, the PDP managed to not only replace NC but also strengthen its own influence in the administration of these shrines. Thus the PDP is not interested in the separation of religious affairs from the government, and its attack targets Raj Bhavan rather than the policy itself.

Now there is every likelihood that the Waqf Board will also seek development authorities around prominent shrines. This would put the government in a fix. Then there will be no end to power games and vote-bank politics on the sensitive issue of religion in J&K, and political parties here seem all too ready to allow communal polarisation for electoral gains. There is just one solution: a total separation of the state from religious affairs, and the creation of a transparent non-governmental mechanism to help run these religious places. And Raj Bhavan needs to remain within the confines of its constitutional role.

muzamil.jaleel@expressindia.com