Guwahati: All Jain-owned businesses in Dimapur will be closed for a full 12-hour period starting at 6 am on January 6 in opposition to the Center’s designation of their most revered pilgrimage site, Shri Sammed Shikarji hill, located in Giridih, Jharkhand as a tourist attraction and opening it up for “commercial exploitation.”
The Jains in the Northeast will demonstrate on January 6 against the decision made by the Union forest and environment and climate change department at the request of the Jharkhand government, according to a release from Dimapur’s Shree Digamber Jain Samaj.
The Jains of Dimapur were urged by the Samaj to gather at Mahavir Bhawan that day at 9:00 am to demonstrate against an allegedly “insensitive pronouncement” that “damages the sanctity of our pilgrimage place” that has existed for aeons.
It said millions of Jain saints attained their salvation on this sacred hill.
“Every particle of this hill is worshipped and lakhs of Jains climb it barefoot, many without eating or drinking anything during 27-km walk,” it said.
The Samaj claimed that anyone who consumed meat, wine, or participated in unclean ceremonies on the hill would be committing an “unpardonable sin” after the sacred hill was designated as a tourist destination.
On December 22 of last year, the Jain community of Dimapur staged a rally under the auspices of Shree Digambar Jain Samaj and Shree Jain Swetambar Terapanthi Sabha to protest the Jain sanctorum in Jharkhand’s designation as a tourist destination.