Varanasi holy city of all religions ?

Varanasi, May 3. Aam Adami Party (AAP) has taken lead by bringing out its manifesto for the holy city of Varanasi. The manifesto says that Varanasi would be declared " Sarv Dharma Pavitra Nagari " holy/sacred city of all religions. The document mentions religious/ cultural tradition of Varanasi enriched by Kabir, Raidas and Tulsidas. Sarva Dharma Pavitra Nagri term echos the national policy of secularism - Sarva Dharma Sambhava.

                         Surprisingly, Narendra Modi, the Hindutva mascot of Bharatiya Janata Party, a few days ago talked about Ganga Jamuni Tehzib of Varanasi. It was a departure from the Sangh Parivar's insistence on Hindu identity of India.

                          It is a contentious issue that Varanasi be called a holy city of all religions. The heavy police presence and watch towers in Gnanvapi Mosque- Kashi Vishwanth Temple complex and locked doors of Alamgir Mosque built over the ruins of Bindu Madhav Temple remind that communal harmony is not as perfect in Varanasi as one wishes to be.

                         The complexity of the issue can better be understood in the light of a controversy erupted in Sarnath, a distinctive Buddhist pilgrimage centre where Lord Buddha delivered his first sermon. Near the Dhameka Srupa, is a Jaina temple, devoted to 11th Tirthankar    Shreyansnath. Devotees brought a statue of Tirthanker to be installed in the temple, which was resisted by the Archaeological  Survey of India (ASI). The installation remained blocked for months. The ASI's argument was that identity of Sarnath as a Buddhist pilgrim centre should not be undermined. Then, just outside the Dhameka Stupa- Mahabodhi Temple  complex there is a Mazar which was restored and expanded in recent years. ASI was also resentful over the construction which is allegedly done encroaching the main road.

                       About 500 meters from Mahabodhi temple and Dhameka Stupa there is famous temple of Shiva, Sarangdeva. Locals believe that word Sarnath has its genesis in Sarangadeva. During Rainy season  in Sharavan months thousands of devotees offer jalabhisheka in the temple. While Mahabodhi temple and Dhameka Stupa attracts devotees from all over the world ( and not locals), the Sarangdeva temple is place of worship for locals.

                      Now just see the complexity of the issue- Should Sarnath be declared as holy city of all relgions- Sarva Dharma Pavitra Nagari. Buddhist countries actually demand greater say in maintenance of Sarnath and an international status to the city. No denying that there are holy places of all religions in Sarnath or for that matter in any city/ town of the country owing to demographical factors but the character of a city should be determined by the overwhelming image of the place.

                     I attended a Hindu-Buddhist religious leaders' press conference in Sarnath ,almost a decade ago, where Shankaracharya of Kanchi Kamkoti Peetham  Swami Jayendra Saraswati issued a decree rejecting the centuries old Hindu belief that Lord Buddha is 9th Avatara of Lord Vishnu. When I asked Shankarcharya how he can issue a decree when millions of Hindus in every religious rituals recite the sankalp confirming that the current era belongs to 9th Avatara (Buddha), Acharya said that it was not an ancient belief it is a later period distortion. Later I came to know that some Buddhist scholars specially Vipassana teacher Satya Narayan Goenka , persuaded the Acharya to issue such decree. Buddhist scholars put a strange argument that  calling Buddha as 9th Avatara hurts their sentiments! Aap leader Arvind Kejriwal is said to be a practitioner of Vipassana.

                   Fortunately in every Hindu household and in pilgrim centres the sankalpa invoking Lord Buddha is still recited. While in  Delhi, in the press gallery of Lok Sabha I could not understand the the merit of objections raised by Sikh MPs who were  resenting inclusion of Skhs as hindus in Article of  the Indian constitution. Sikh Mps' objection was that clubbing them in word Hindu hurts their religious sentiments!

                  It will be far better if Varanasi is declared a spiritual city. Only on spiritual plains contradiction of religious beliefs and conflicting sense of history can be sublimated. Then, What is wrong with declaring Sarnath as a Buddhist holy city where all religions find their due presence. And what is wrong with declaring Varanasi as Kaaba of Hindus as described by Allama Iqbal and Ghalib.Muslim can experience Kaaba and Christians New Jarusalem in Kashi :

"Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.…Come! Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life."(Revelation of john)

               " go vaan nahiin pah vaan ke nikaale hue to hain

                  kaabe se in buton ko bhii nisbat hai duur ki"

                ( though they are not there, still that is where they were expelled from

                   these idols too have a distant kinship with the ka’bah )

                                                        Ghalib ( Chiragh i Dair- an eulogy of Banaras)