The whole Jain community has come to the streets across India. But why are Jains protesting in India? What is Save Shikharji Movement? Let us find out in this article

Why are Jains protesting in India?

The whole Jain community is protesting in India because their pilgrimage site is going to become a tourist spot. Jharkhand government has decided to turn the Jain pilgrimage site Sri Sammed Shikharji into a tourist destination.

Let us understand the issue from the start, in Jharkhand state’s Giridih district, there are Parasnath hills. This is not a common tourist space. (Click here to take a tour)This place has the most important value in the Jain community. The most important pilgrimage site of the Jain community is situated here. This is called Sri Sammed Shikharji. It is believed that, out of 24 Tirthankaras (Jain gurus) of the Jain community, 20 had achieved salvation or ‘moksha’ in this exact place. The people of the Jain community perform a 27-kilometer-long parikrama of Shikharji. The history of this place is very interesting and dates back to the 7th century BC. But let’s focus on recent history only.

In the 18th century, the Battle of Plassey was fought between the British East India Company and The Nawab of Bengal. British won that battle and from then till now this place is being managed by the Jain community only. As time passed, a Jain trust was established and till 1964, this whole area was a private forest.

In 1972, The Government of Bihar took control of Parasnath hills, and from that time to now; this place has been under various conflicts.

In 2019, the Central government’s ministry of environment established and declared various areas as eco-sensitive zones. But what is an eco-sensitive zone? This is a buffer area line between a forest and a city or a village where there are fewer conflicts between humans and animals.

 On 28th December 2021, the Jharkhand state government’s ministry of tourism launched its policy which proposed this place be developed as a tourism place.

Concerns of the Jain community

Jain community shows their dissent to the Government of Jharkhand about this decision. Their main concern was following

• If this site is declared a tourist spot, people of the Non-Jain community will come to this site, and eventually, this site will lose its sanctity.
• Many Jain leaders believe that people will bring alcohol with them and destroy the chastity and purity of this site
• Concerning past incidents, the Jain community believes that many people will do obscene acts on this site to increase communal tensions.
• Their major concern is that non-Jain people will not take care of Jain’s principles and they will not respect these sites as a holy sites.

Jharkhand government did not provide any answers to it. People of the Jain community are demanding that this place be declared a holy place of worship so that its sanctity is maintained and preserved.

Save Shikharji Movement

The Jain community wants to be one of the stakeholders in the Jharkhand government’s plan. This place has a religious history of many centuries. Even after knowing this, thoughts leader have not been involved in the decision-making process here. Jharkhand government did not listen to Jain community leaders before making its decision. So to raise their voices against the policies of the Jharkhand government, the Jain community started the ‘Save Shikharji Movement’ which is basically to save this holy place to be declared a tourist site.

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Jain community is protesting in Delhi, Mumbai, Ranchi, and even outside India. They are fasting so that their demands are heard by the Government of Jharkhand and eventually to take their decision back. Few days before a Jain monk died while he was fasting for this. Another Jain monk died on 06th January 2023 while protesting in the form of fasting

Conclusion 

This article answers the questions like, why are Jains protesting in India? And what is Save Shikharji Movement? India is a country of diversity and every religion and community is entitled to show their dissent with the help of peaceful protests. Let’s see when and how the Jharkhand government will react to such protests.