The Uttarakhand government on Tuesday decided to scrap the Chardham Devasthanam Board. “After studying all aspects of the issue, we have decided to withdraw the Chardham Devasthanam Board Act,” Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said. Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt on Tuesday said that there was a need to reconsider the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board Act because the entire priest community were unhappy.
Chardham priests had been demanding scrapping of the board ever since its creation in 2019, saying it was an infringement of their traditional rights over the temples. A high-level committee constituted by Dhami to look into the Devasthanam Board issue had submitted its recommendations to the chief minister in Rishikesh on Sunday. “We went through the details of the report submitted by the panel headed by Manohar Kant Dhyani. After considering all aspects of the issue, our government has decided to withdraw the Act,” Dhami said.
Constituted during the tenure of former chief minister Trivendra Singh Rawat, the Chardham Devasthanam Board managed the affairs of 51 temples across the state, including the famous Himalayan temples of Kedarnath, Badrinath, Gangotri and Yamunotri. Many organisations, including the Chardham Teerth-Purohit Hak Hakookdhari Mahapanchayat Samiti, were opposing the Act. According to the temple priests, their rights are being curtailed due to the formation of this board.
Mahapanchayat in its meeting on 20 November had decided to organise a sit-in protest against the Devasthanam Act at worship places of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri Dham. The agitation against the board has been going for 21 months.
Meanwhile, the Chardham Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat and Vishva Hindu Parishad have welcomed the decision of the Uttarakhand government withdrawing Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board Act, terming it to be “historical”. “Today is a historic day for the pilgrim priests and all those who have protesting against the law. I thank Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami for taking this decision,” Brijesh Sati, spokesperson, Chardham Teerth Purohit Mahapanchayat. “This probably happened for the first time in the history of India that an elected government has withdrawn the Act passed by the same Assembly,” he added.
The working international president of Vishva Hindu Parishad, Alok Kumar, welcoming the decision, said, “We will continue to spearhead the movement to ensure that there will be no government control over temples. The resources of the temples should be under Hindu society for Hindu’s welfare only.”
Last December, the Uttarakhand Assembly had passed the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board Bill. The law aimed at bringing the Char Dham of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and other temples under the purview of a proposed shrine board. Kedarnath Teerth Purohit Samaj had earlier claimed that the then Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat had assured to reconsider the board.
Union Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt on Tuesday said, “There is a need for reconsideration because the entire Panda society and the priests were unhappy with the act. They felt that they have not been asked. When the governments make Acts, they make it for the betterment. But if the perception goes wrong, then there should be reconsideration. Our government has reconsidered and there cannot be a bigger thing than that. The demand of the Panda society has been fulfilled today.”
The minister further added: “It was almost sure that there would be a reconsideration of the constitution of the Devasthanam Board. Our government has respected everyone’s emotions. The way that we had brought this bill in Vidhan Sabha, we will act in the same way to repeal the Act. Before this, it would be taken up in the cabinet. The Act has been withdrawn completely and it has remained merely a formality.”