Kashmir: Three decades later, a temple in Jammu and Kashmir is opened. The Shital Nath Temple in Srinagar has reopened. The Shital Nath Temple in Kralakhud, Srinagar was inaugurated on Wednesday, February 17 after a gap of 31 years. The bell rang again in the temple for Basant Panchami Pooja. About 30 Kashmiri Hindus participated in the prayers.‘The temple has been officially opened,’ said priest Upendra Handu.
The temple was closed in 1990. But Islamic extremism took root in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1990s when Farooq Abdullah was the Chief Minister and Mufti Mohammad Syed was the Home Minister. As a part of this, many temples were forcibly closed. Upendra Handu said hundreds of Kashmiri Hindus had attended the Basant Panchami Pooja at the Sheetal Nath Mandir before the terror attack. Basant Panchami, the day when newborns begin their formal education, was important to Hindu scholars in Kashmir. Kashmiri Hindus thanked Prime Minister Modi for this. They also opined that the temple was reopened due to the removal of Section 370 and 35A.
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