A state that calls itself secular has no business to involve itself in purely religious matters such as pilgrimages. By all means make provisions for the security and comfort of pilgrims, as our state governments do during Kumbh Melas at Allahabad and Rath Yatras at the Jagannath Temple in Puri, but they must not go beyond that. State officials have no right to associate themselves or extend patronage to religious bodies or give away public land, property or money to them. That error was made by General SK Sinha, recently retired Governor of Jammu & Kashmir. He had no right to give away vast hectares of forestland to the Amarnath Shrine Board. As an experienced administrator, he should have foreseen that the move would cause grave resentment in the predominantly Muslim population of the Valley. And so it did. His successor N.N. Vohra was right in rescinding his predecessor’s order while at the same time reassuring pilgrims that the state would guarantee their safety and comfort. He had to face the ire of Hindus in majority in Jammu and the rest of India. It gave right-wing Hindu political parties a grievance they could exploit for electoral gains. Such mistakes should not be repeated.