Bajrang Dal firm on sending team to Amarnath shrine

The Bajrang Dal has threatened to send a team of 100 volunteers to the Amarnath shrine on June 4 to take stock of the situation there.

Earlier, a group of Bajrang Dal activists has tried to make their way to the shrine but were  prevented by the Jammu and Kashmir police from doing so.

According to sources, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has made it clear that under no circumstance will the state government allow the pilgrimage before June 25 -- the official day for the commencement of the yatra.

"We will send a team of 100 activists of the Bajrang Dal to Baltal base camp to assess the ground situation and the condition of the route to the cave shrine of Amarnath," said Bajrang Dal's regional co-convener Nand Kishore Mishra.

Mishra criticised the Amarnath Shrine Board's decision to reduce the number of days of the yatra citing climatic reasons and accused the board of "misleading" the devotees.

Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley has also deplored the curtailment of the number of days of the yatra.

"I would urge the government that the duration of this yatra should be restored to what it was originally," he said in the Upper House recently.