CHENNAI: There are less takers for the election promise made by the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP that Hindu temples in the State would be handed over to a separate board of Hindu scholars and saints to replace the system of secular government controlling only the Hindu temples.
The BJP’s promise came at a time when Isha Isha Foundation head Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev is leading a movement for freeing the Hindu temples from government control. A few years ago, BJP’ senior leader H Raja had also launched the Temple Reclaim Movement for freeing the temples from government control. Meanwhile, BJP's official handle on Friday tweeted the party national president JP Nadda's reiteration of the party’s electoral promise to form a separate board for administering the Hindu temples. This has drew flak from many quarters who are against the idea.
Jaggi Vasudev had quoted an affidavit filed by the Tamil Nadu government before Madras HC in July last said that 11,999 temples are not in a position to perform even single time pooja per day as they have no revenue and that 37,000 temples could not appoint more than one person per temple to look after the entire affairs of the temples.
TR Ramesh, president, Indic Collective and president of Temple Worshippers Society is of the strong view that handing over the Hindu temples to a separate board is impractical and unlawful.
Asked why the BJP is proposing such a solution, Ramesh put it in plain words: “The BJP is trying to appeal to the sentiments of the people. In reality, the BJP does not want to give up temple administration. So, they are trying to put the wine in the new bottle. That’s all. ”
“Government having control over the temples is a wrong proposition. It should not continue. But promising that the temples would be handed over to a board of scholars and saints is an act of cheating as such a move is illegal. The Constitution has ensured the religious rights of individuals as well as denominations (groups). For example, a protestant church and a pentecost church cannot be merged. So also, temples of different Sampradayas cannot be brought under a single board,” Ramesh explained.
The temples should be handed over to their original owners and the court should devise a management plan for managing the temples. There should be external auditing for the funds and other functioning of the temples. As of now, only internal auditing is available.
On how the original managers of the temples could be ascertained after the passage of many decades if at all the government wanted to free them, Ramesh said, “Till 1951, there were less than 1,000 temples which were under the control of the government. But since then, over a period, the State government has taken over around 44,000 temples during the past five to six decades. All those temples which have less than Rs.Two lakh income per annum can be handed over to the village level committees with representatives from all castes and communities.”
The HR and CE Act should be modified to ensure that there are penal provisions so that the number of instances of mismanagement will come down drastically. It can be run by trustees themselves according to their traditions (Sampradaya). Only in the instances of mismanagement, government can take over for a limited period. Government should be there only as a regulator and it can not be an administrator of temples.
PTR Palanivel Thiagarajan, DMK spokesperson and MLA representing Madurai Central constituency had gone on record protesting against the demand of Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev for freeing Hindu temples from government control.
Thiagarajan had contended that though there are lakhs of temples in Tamil Nadu and only a small percentage of them - around 34,000 temples are under the control of the government and most of them were built by the kings. “Now there is no king but a democratic set up is there. So, these temples have automatically become the assets of the people. Since the government is being run by the people's representatives, the government has the right to administer these temples,” he reasoned.
Thiagarajan had also wondered :” To whom these temples will be handed over if they are taken out of government control? Even if they are to be handed over to a group of people, won't that group need an audit and managing body? So definitely, there will be government control over the temples. So, what is the difference it's going to make by taking the temples out of the government control? What they actually demand is handing over the temples to Brahmins,” he added.
The DMK spokesperson also pointed out that during the past 20 years, in Gujarat, temples were being taken over by the State government. The BJP government in Uttarakhand has been following suit. But those demanding freeing temples from Tamil Nadu government conveniently forget this fact.
Rangarajan Narasimhan from Srirangam, who has been working for renovation of temples and filing cases against interference of the government in religious affairs and maladministration in temples too took objection to the BJP’s electoral promise saying handing over the temples to one board would be wrong since the interests of numerous Sampradayas cannot be protected by one board.
Narasimhan clarified that as per the Constitution, the government has no control over the temples. They should be handed over to the people of different Sampradayas by appointing them as trustees. But the government cannot function as the administrator of the temples.
“Whoever asks the government to free the temples from its control, they are actually misdirecting the public thus giving an impression that already the government is actually controlling the temples thereby giving the right to the government to control the temples. Already Article 26 gives freedom for each denomination (a religious group) for maintaining their places of worship. So, what the government should do is to hand over the temples to the respective Sampradayas by appointing trustees selected from among them,” he added.
When TNIE tried to check the veracity of BJP’s statement that late Kundrakudi Adigalar had made a recommendation to handed over the Hindu temples to a separate board comprising Hindu scholars and saints, Ponnambala Adigalar, present head of Kundrakudi Aadheenam said that he would clarify this after verifying the records of the Adheenam. However, the office of the Adheenam did not clarify this so far. Meanwhile, efforts to contact H Raja, who headed the manifesto committee of the BJP to get a copy of the document related to the recommendation of Kundrakudi Adigalar did not materialise.