Download Control of Hindu Temples and Temple Funds This deserves a very

Control of Hindu Temples and Temple Funds
This deserves a very wide circulation ?
A Foreign writer opens
our eyes...
The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Act of 1951 allows
State Governments and politicians to take over thousands of Hindu
Temples and maintain complete control over them and their properties.
It is claimed that they can sell the temple assets and properties and use
the money in any way they choose.
A charge has been made not by any Temple authority, but by a foreign
writer, Stephen Knapp, in a book (Crimes Against India and the Need to
Protect Ancient Vedic Tradition), published in the United States that
makes shocking reading.
Hundreds of temples in centuries past have been built in India by
devout rulers and the donations given to them by devotees have been
used for the benefit of the (other) people. If, presently, money collected
has ever been misused (and that word needs to be defined), it is for the
devotees to protest and not for any government to interfere. This letter
is what has been happening currently under an intrusive law.
It would seem, for instance, that under a Temple Empowerment Act,
about 43,000 temples in Andhra Pradesh have come under government
control and only 18 per cent of the revenues of these temples have
been returned for temple purposes, the remaining 82 per cent being
used for purposes unstated.
Apparently even the world famous Tirumala Tirupati Temple has not
been spared. According to Knapp, the temple collects over Rs 3,100
crores every year and the State Government has not denied the charge
that as much as 85 per cent of this is transferred to the State
Exchequer, much of which goes to causes that are not connected with
the Hindu community.
Was it for that reason that devotees make their offering to the temples?
Another charge that has been made is that the Andhra Government has
also allowed the demolition of at least ten temples for the construction
of a golf courses. Imagine the outcry, writes Knapp, if ten mosques had
been demolished.
It would seem that in Karanataka, Rs. 79 crores were collected from
about two lakh temples and from that, temples received Rs seven
crores for their maintenance, Muslim madrassahs and Haj subsidy were
given Rs 59 crore and churches about Rs 13 crore. Very generous of the
government.
Because of this, Knapp writes, 25 per cent of the two lakh temples or
about 50,000 temples in Karnataka will be closed down for lack of
resources, and he adds: The only way the government can continue to
do this is because people have not stood up enough to stop it.
Knapp then refers to Kerala where, he says, funds from the Guruvayur
Temple are diverted to other government projects denying
improvement to 45 Hindu temples. Land belonging to the Ayyappa
Temple , apparently has been grabbed and Church encroaches are
occupying huge areas of forest land, running into thousands of acres,
near Sabarimala.
A charge is made that the Communist state government of Kerala wants
to pass an Ordinance to disband the Travancore Cochin Autonomous
Devaswom Boards (TCDBs) and take over their limited independent
authority of 1,800 Hindu temples. If what the author says is true, even
the Maharashtra Government wants to take over some 450,000 temples
in the state which would supply a huge amount of revenue to correct
the states bankrupt conditions.
And, to top it all, Knapp says that in Orissa, the state government
intends to sell over 70,000 acres of endowment lands from the
Jagannath Temple , the proceeds of which would solve a huge financial
crunch brought about by its own mismanagement of temple assets.
Says Knapp: Why such occurrences are so often not known is
that the Indian media, especially the English television and
press, are often anti-Hindu in their approach, and, thus, not
inclined to give much coverage, and certainly no sympathy, for
anything that may affect the Hindu community. Therefore, such
government action that play against the Hindu community go
on without much or any attention attracted to them.
Knapp obviously is on record. If the facts produced by him are
incorrect, it is up to the government to say so. It is quite possible that
some individuals might have set up temples to deal with lucrative
earnings. But, that, surely, is none of the governments' business?
Instead of taking over all earnings, the government surely can appoint
local committees to look into temple affairs so that the amount
discovered is fairly used for the public good?
Says Knapp: Nowhere in the free, democratic world are the religious
institutions managed, maligned and controlled by the government, thus
denying the religious freedom of the people of the country.
But it is happening in India.
Government officials have taken control of Hindu temples because they
smell money in them, they recognise the indifference of Hindus, they
are aware of the unlimited patience and tolerance of Hindus, they also
know that it is not in the blood of Hindus to go to the streets to
demonstrate, destroy property, threaten, loot, harm and/or kill.
Many Hindus are sitting and watching the demise of their culture. They
need to express their views loud and clear. Knapp obviously does not
know that should they do so, they would be damned as communalists.
But, it is time some one asked the Government to lay down all the facts
on the table so that the public would know what is happening behind its
back. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not secularism. And temples are not
for looting, under any name..
One thought... that Mohammad of Ghazni has long been dead??!