Seek better temple management, don’t try to polarise Andhra Pradesh
A series of attacks on temples, including the fire at the Antarvedi temple in which its 62-year-old chariot was gutted, has snowballed into a major controversy with political parties of all hues threatening to open a new fault line in the social fabric of Andhra Pradesh. This is new in the sense that the state has never been communally polarised for a variety of reasons. It is a fact that conversions have been taking place for years in the coastal belt but this too hasn’t led to any major friction among people of different faiths.
Against this backdrop, one wonders what is changing. While we cannot jump to any conclusion based on available evidence, a few things are clear. Firstly, temples are not being managed properly. For instance, both at Antarvedi and the Sri Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada, where three statues have gone missing, security has been lax. Management of temples has been deplorable at several places for decades with corruption being the norm. Recently, the executive officer of a famous temple came under the radar of the anti-corruption bureau.
The present YSRC government has taken some measures like restoring the hereditary Archakatva rights to temple priests and offering financial assistance to them in the absence of which many small temples were being affected adversely. These have been largely welcomed. But more needs to be done for the proper upkeep of temples, which are treasure troves of our heritage. Reconstituting temple trust boards with eminent Hindus and men of impeccable character would be a good start. Leaving the temples in the care of the bureaucracy and politicians hasn’t helped.
Secondly, political parties must exercise restraint. It is deplorable to point fingers at Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s faith or accuse TTD Board Chairman Y V Subba Reddy, a devout Hindu, of belonging to a different faith. The Antarvedi fire case has been handed over to the CBI while the state police are probing the other incidents. Wait for the outcome. The opposition should fight for better management of temples instead of seeking to polarise the state.