Vijayashree RameshAs what led to an uproar in the most recent incidents was when E Palanisamy the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu wished to give away the temple land to the existing occupants of those. Who has the authority to do so is the real question here? Certainly not the Government, as temple lands belong to the Gods, of the respective temples and the concerned Government took upon themselves to manage the temples.
There are two other incidents happening one followed by the other. The Andhra Pradesh Government, declaring that it is going to sell lands by E-AUCTION, 17 no’s in the rural Andhra side, 9 no’s in the urban side, 23 in TN, 1 in Rishikesh where the lands were developed into houses and there are occupants there already, while the lands in TN and AP are just remaining lands for the sale purposes.
Why this sudden urge to sell the property of the temple? When as per Constitution, as per Article 26, every religious denomination, shall have the right to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes, to manage its own affairs in matters of religion, to own and acquire movable and immovable property and to administer such property in accordance with.
The gods in the temples are the owners of the lands given by the people who might have had their own personal reasons to offer. It is an unwritten rule of law that when Hindu Gods are given lands, it is Gods’ property alone, they shall be maintained and income from these lands shall go back to the temple for their maintenance, anna dhaanam schemes. Every temple management has the right to possess the lands gifted by bhaktas’, to buy property on behalf of the temple, but never to sell or alienate any property of the temple.
Every temple shall have the Head Priest or the Dharmakartha to maintain such lands given to temples as God himself cannot do so. The Government taking away the rights of the temples in disposing of the lands of the temples is the appalling issue here. The property of Hindu Gods shall remain in the hands of Hindus only, as e-auctions will lead to selling to the highest bidder and the property gets exchanged to people from other Religions too, over which no one can have any say.
The most recent issue being Sri Anantha Padmanabha Swamy Temple, sale of gold, lands of the temple had created a stir in the Hindu society, when people objected to the alienation done as being vindictive, communally. While Andhra and TN people are aware, it is the Kerala people who have been in long slumber to have woken up to the fact now, that very many temple lands have been repeatedly sold by the alternating Kerala Government.
The Kerala High Court passed on the order to this effect, that no sale can be done in the future without the prior consent of the court. Gold, lands when offered to God it becomes his own property, can be only used for specific purposes as mentioned by the offeror to God. Otherwise they are kept for general purposes. Also, the alienation of the property of God is UNCONSTITUTIONAL.
The current TTD issue came up because, they wanted to sell about 50 no’s of lands in their possession as there wasn’t much or no income from the said lands. Many selfless organizations, people objected to this. It is important to mention here that Subramanian Swamy, in April 2019 filed a PIL against AP Government and Temple authorities that there is a need to conduct an external audit in the temple financial dealings and a report to be submitted for the past five years. That too by CAG. It was countered with the representative for the temple, saying that internal audits have been conducted and there is no need for an external audit.
Now in the lockdown period when salaries of the 20000 odd employees weren’t given for two months and to substantiate that they wanted to go ahead with the sale of these above-said lands, as income to the temple had dried up owing to total absence of devotees. Does the temple need so many employees? Belonging to other communities in a Hindu Temple? If so, aren’t their cash reserve with the banks, deposits through which the salaries could have been paid. Alienation of the property is never the solution. This is where all the more, there is a need for an External Audit.
Yesterday the AP Government has instructed the TTD Management to stall the sale of the 50 no’s lands for the moment and seek an alternative way to solve the financial crisis issue with internal talks with the Board. This decision was taken after very strong objections from all quarters. It is shocking that between 1974 and 2014 almost 129 no’s of properties belonging to TTD have already been sold and alienated.
Where they failed is, they could have built guest houses, goshalas, yaatris bungalow in those lands to generate income to the temple instead of leaving them open, barren, exposed to illegal possession, unwanted encroachment. Had they thought of generating income from these lands, it would have been different. If they are arable lands, some cultivation could have been done to generate income.
Now with the petition being in pendency with the Supreme Court, filed by Subramanian Swamy, hope that these activities of the temple authorities and the concerned Government shall be refrained from managing temples and taking the law into their hands to sell the GODS’ PROPERTY and be privatized for the temples’ good management.
At this rate, if the temples and the property of the temples are not saved we will not have any temples to visit, 50 years from now on, we will be made to see Gods’ pictures in photo frames instead of visiting temples. It is time for an urgent call and appeal to stand united for this noble cause to save Hindu Culture and Temples.
Mediyaan Yuva