New Delhi, 21 May (H.S.): Bajrang Dal will once again organise its annual pilgrimage to seek the blessings of Shri Baba Budha Amarnath, situated in the Poonch district of the Kashmir Valley. This year, the pilgrimage will be conducted from August 16 to August 27. The announcement was made on Thursday by Milind Parande during a press conference attended by Kishan Prajapat.

Parande stated, “This pilgrimage is not merely religious in nature but also a symbol of national unity. It has strengthened respect for our soldiers stationed at the borders and inspired a spirit of ‘valor instead of migration’ among minority Hindus living near the Pakistan border. The yatra has also ensured the preservation of all Hindu religious sites situated along the route.”

Highlighting the historical and social impact of the pilgrimage, he said that due to the efforts of Bajrang Dal, the migration of Hindus from the Poonch region has come to a complete halt, and the local Hindu population has witnessed an increase of nearly four percent.

Parande further said that during the 1990s, the rise of jihadist terrorism in the Kashmir Valley and continuous cross-border shelling from Pakistan had rendered this centuries-old pilgrimage nearly defunct. In 2005, Bajrang Dal undertook the initiative to revive the yatra.

He informed that this year, Bajrang Dal workers and devotees from all states across the country will participate in the pilgrimage. The yatra will be formally inaugurated on August 16 at around 4 p.m. at the Bhagwati Nagar Base Camp in Jammu. On August 17 at 5 a.m., devotees will depart from Jammu for Poonch to visit Baba Budha Amarnath. On August 18, the pilgrims will leave Poonch at 6 a.m., reach the shrine for darshan approximately two hours later, and begin the return journey at 10 a.m.

During the return journey from Poonch, the pilgrimage will pass through Rajouri and reach Sunderbani for an overnight stay. The following morning at around 5 a.m., the group will proceed for darshan at Shiv Khori before concluding the pilgrimage at Katra. This schedule will continue daily, with groups from four to five different states visiting the shrine each day.

Since its revival in 2005, the pilgrimage has witnessed record participation from devotees across the country. To facilitate smoother arrangements and greater convenience for pilgrims, Bajrang Dal has launched a dedicated web portal named “BudhaAmarnath.org.” Through this portal, devotees from any part of the world will be able to register online for the pilgrimage.

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Hindusthan Samachar / Jun Sarkar