Country witnesses nation wide shutdown called by BJP.

Indore, Ranchi, New Delhi, Agra, July 3 : Several cities and towns in India were hit by the nationwide shutdown called by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) against the revocation of land transfer to the Sri Amarnath Shrine Board by Jammu and Kashmir Government.

The Bharatiya Janata Party and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad are exploiting the issue to serve their political objectives and have taken out rallies in the country.

In Madhya Pradesh, the protesters resorted to stone pelting, which forced police to take action against them while the protesters in eastern Ranchi exhibited their anger by burning tyres on city streets and raising anti-government slogans. They attacked vehicles blocked the traffic.

Various protesters on bikes and autorickshaws staged rallies on roads and declared countrywide shutdown.

"People have supported the shutdown across the country. It gives out a strong message to the central government and state government of Jammu and Kashmir that disrespect to the emotions of the people will not be tolerated. And so the forest land should be transferred to shrine board as soon as possible," said former Chief Minister of Jharkhand Arjun Munda. Shops, schools and business establishments have remained closed since morning and the traffic on the streets was weak.

Normal life was paralyzed in other cities like Jamshedpur, Bokaro, Dhanbad and Daltonganj where the vehicular traffic has been severely affected.

Demonstrations were also organized in New Delhi where protesters of Vishwa Hindu Parishad walked on streets shouting slogans, forced the shop owners to close down the shops.

Vishwa Hindu Parishad General Secretary Praveen Togadiya, protesting with his party members in New Delhi, said that the Hindus of the country would not tolerate disrespect to their religious sentiments.

"Today citizens of India have demonstrated that they will not tolerate any disrespect to their religious institutions. We pledge to get back the allotted land to the Amarnath Shrine Board. The subsidies allotted for the Haj should be cancelled. And the Haj Houses should be taken back," he added.

In Agra, the protesters stopped the trains in protest and resorted to sloganeering at Agra cantonment railway station.

The Amarnath Shrine Board helped to organise the annual trek undertaken by thousands of pilgrims to the Amarnath cave shrine deep inside the Himalayas. But while canceling the land transfer, the state government has given the responsibility of facilitating the pilgrimage to the tourism department.

The order of transfer of land was revoked after large-scale demonstrations in Kashmir valley for more than a week in which at least five people were killed in police firing and over 500 were injured.

ANI