Dear Kaanwariyas, I am writing this letter as a Shiva Bhakt as i often get inspired seeing the harsh, spiritual journey that countless bhakts undertook every year during the holy month of 'Saravan'. It is an inspiration to see scores of devotees forming a long human chain, some even bare foot, consumed in religious fervor walking silently on the edge of roads to fetch holy water from Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri. The hardships encountered during this pilgrimage can't be envisaged by common people like myself who never participated in this yatra.
In today's time and age, where everything is adulterated, this pilgrimage isn't left untouched as well. There are instances where unscrupulous elements penetrated it and maligned the yatra . The ear splitting music, choked roads due to street dancing, commotion, lawlessness have been witnessed in several places which hardly goes with the image of a pilgrimage. There is no denying the fact that only handful of bad elements perpetrate such acts of vandalism, but it ends up smudging peaceful devotees. The rowdy behavior of selected few gets highlighted, giving the opportunity to sickular vultures to blemish the entire community.
The unlawful behavior can't be condoned by a civilized society and the culprits should be rightfully booked. On the part of kanwariyas, if they believe they can commit crimes and can evade law, then, they are living in a fools paradise. Such privilege in our country is only reserved for particular community. The crimes committed by them comes under special category which is over often overlooked lest, they will affect vote-bank. If you believe that you have the same privilege then have a look- A stray incident of road rage and resulting violence by rowdies impersonating as kanwariya brings large number of eminent journalists to debate and condemn whole yatra. A small incident of road rage is termed as terrorism with wide prime time national coverage continuing for days. Attempts to malign the tradition of KanwarYatra is going full throttle, even bizarre stories are interwoven with regionalism to create a wedge.
In our country, there is no dearth of issues requiring immediate attention, but the energy spent to cover and condemn isolated incidents during this year annual Kaanwar yatra is perplexing. There is no doubt vandalism by a few is disturbing and culprits shouldn't be spared and Kaanwariyas too should be prepared for minute scrutiny in these testing times. As for Hindus, be prepared for a PIL in Apex court before next Saravan , after water-less Holi, cracker-less Diwali, patriarchy on Raksha Bandhan and karvachauth, nooze around you is only going to tighten.
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