AMN / WEB DESK
Jains, a small minority community are up in arms across India demanding protection of their religious places and identity. Thousands of them hit the streets in different parts of the country against Jharkhand’s plan to develop a revered hill temple of the community as an ecotourism spot and over a desecration incident at a religious place Palitana in Gujarat. Both sites are considered of great religious importance by the micro minority community
Jains- a community that firmly follow non-violence and usually distance themselves from controversies have perhaps first time in decades came forward to hold protests.
The community have been taking out rallies and march in several cities including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Delhi and Ranchi.
Protest in Mumbai
Members of the Jain community took out a massive rally from the Metro cinema junction to Azad Maidan to register their protest against the Jharkhand government’s decision to declare the ‘sacred’ Sammed Shikharji into a tourist spot. Hundreds of members of the Jain community were out on the streets in Mumbai on Wednesday morning to protest against the Jharkhand government’s decision to declare the ‘sacred’ Sammed Shikharji into a tourist spot and the vandalism at the Palitana temple in Gujarat.
A massive rally was taken out from the Metro cinema junction, which culminated at the historic Azad Maidan.
Jharkhand government’s decision to declare ‘sacred’ Shri Sammed Shikharji a tourist place and incidents of allegedly desecrating the sacred Shetrunjaya Hills in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district have triggered anger among lakhs of people belonging to the Jain community.
Protest in Ahmedabad
Hundreds of Jain protester in Ahmedabad held protest on Sunday, seeking action against anti-social elements allegedly desecrating the sacred Shetrunjaya Hills in Gujarat’s Bhavnagar district. Led by religious heads of the community, hundreds took part in the rally and walked for 3 km, demanding action against illegal mining activities, liquor dens and encroachment of government land on the hills. Situated on the banks of Shetrunji river around 164 feet above sea level, Shetrunjaya Hills near Palitana city are home to 865 Jain temples and is a holy place for Shwetambara Jains.
Members of the community have held more than 85 rallies in different parts of the state ever since the “charan paduka” of a Jain saint was vandalised at a temple on the hills on November 26 last year, the secretary of a Jain trust in Ahmedabad said.
All the demands are related to illegal activities and the state government should not find it hard to tackle them, said Pranav Shah, secretary of Samagra Jain Swetambar Murtipujak Tapagachh Shree Mahasangh of Ahmedabad city.
Jain monk died while on fast
A 72-year-old Jain monk who was on a fast against the Jharkhand government’s decision to declare Shri Sammed Shikharji as a tourist place died Tuesday in Jaipur, according to a community leader.
Police said after participating in a peace march in Jaipur against the decision, Sugyeysagar Maharaj sat on the fast at Sanghiji temple in Sanganer area of the city.
Jain worldwide population is just five million. Majority of this population is based in India, largely in Gujarat, Rajasthan and Mumbai. Though not an electoral bloc to reckon with, Jains are still considered to have enormous clout in the western states. For instance, the Adani family, Lalbhai family of Arvind group, Dilip Shanghvi of Sun Pharma, former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, and proprietors of the Times group are some of the more high-profile Jain families who wield power in their respective fields.
In the early years of the BJP government in Gujarat, attempts were made to include Jains as Hindus on paper, but the community resisted and continues to remain an independent religion with a ‘minority community status’, though its religious ceremonies and way of life are very similar to that of Hindu communities.