Jain community members will keep their shops and business establishments here closed for 12 hours from 6 am on Friday as a mark of protest against the declaration of their most sacred worship site of Shri Sammed Shikharji (Parasnath Hill) at Giridih in Jharkhand as a tourist spot and opening it for commercial exploitation by Union Ministry of Forest, Environment & Climate Change on the request of Government of Jharkhand in 2019.
The shutdown is part of the protest by all Jain community members of the Northeast.
Shree Digamber Jain Samaj in a press release also appealed to all Jains to assemble at Mahavir Bhawan here at 9 am on Friday to register their protest against the “insensitive declaration”, which damaged the sanctity of the pilgrimage site since time immemorial.
According to the Samaj, millions of Jain saints had attained their salvation from this sacred hill and claimed that very particle of the hill was worshipped and lakhs of Jains climbed it barefooted, many without eating or drinking anything during the 27-km walk. So also, anybody having any non-veg food or alcoholic drinks or unholy celebrations on the sacred hill after having declared it as a tourist spot was unpardonable sin, the Jain body declared.
It claimed that millions of Jains across the globe were protesting against the move.
Jain shops to remain shut in Dimapur today
