About 1580 pilgrims are participating in this year’s Kailash Mansarovar Yatra which is organised by External Affairs Ministry every year. There had been allegations by certain devotees earlier this year that the Chinese authorities did not permit them to take a dip in the holy lake. External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj clarified today earlier that China had not denied permission to take a dip in the holy river.
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Sushma Swaraj clarified in the media that there were designated points where the devotees should take the dip. She said that she had got a tweet from someone who had been visiting Mansarovar, that they (devotees) had not been allowed to take a holy dip in the Mansarovar lake. She clarified that had not been the situation.
“There is always a designated place where you can take a bath, you cannot take the dip just anywhere in the river,” Sushma Swaraj said. A video posted by a priest named Sanjeev Thakur earlier today alleged that their group was not allowed to take a dip in the holy river because of a Chinese order. He further asked that if they were not being allowed, then why they had been issued visas and permits. Thakur added that if they were not given permission to take the dip, they would not budge from the place.
An MEA announcement prior to the Yatra had explained about the two routes for that Yatra. The one route is through the Lipuleh Pass(Uttarakhand) and the other via Nathu La Pass (Sikkim). The first path is not suitable for senior citizens as it involves arduous trek. The cost of the Yatra is 1.6 lakhs/person and is conducted in 18 batches of 60 pilgrims each. On the wake of Dokhlam issue in 2017, the Chinese government had not allowed Indian pilgrims to travel to Kailash Mansarovar Lake via Nathu La Pass.
After External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had raised the issue with China during last year’s meeting including one with the Chinese External Affairs Minister, the Chinese government gave permission to resume the Yatra via Nathu La Pass.
The MEA, India is helped by the Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of defence, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, the state governments of Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Delhi, and a few civil society organisations.
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