Freeing temples from state control by Subramanian Swamy

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Opinion » Lead

Freeing temples from state control

Subramanian Swamy

January 20, 2014 

[What is scandalous is the corruption after the takeover of temples as politicians and officials loot the temple’s wealth and land, and divert donations of devotees to non-religious purposes]

The Supreme Court delivered a landmark judgment on January 6, 2013, allowing my Special Leave Petition that sought the quashing of the Tamil Nadu Government’s G.O. of 2006 which had mandated the government takeover of the hallowed Sri Sabhanayagar Temple (popularly known as the Nataraja temple). 

The Madras High Court Single Judge and Division Bench had in 2009 upheld the constitutionality of the G.O. by a tortuous and convoluted logic that new laws can overturn past court judgments that had attained finality earlier. 

The Supreme Court in 1953 had dismissed the then Madras Government’s SLP seeking the quashing of a Madras High Court Division Bench judgment of 1952 that had upheld the right of Podu Dikshitars to administer the affairs of the Nataraja templewhile dismissing all charges of misappropriation of temple funds against the Dikshitars. 

The Supreme Court thus made this judgment final and hence that which cannot be re-opened. 

But in 2009 the Madras High Court did precisely that. 

In 2014, in my SLP, the Supreme Court Bench of Justices B.S. Chauhan and S.A. Bobde therefore termed this re-opening of the matter as “judicial indiscipline” and set aside the 2009 Madras High Court judgment as null and void on the principle of Res Judicata. 

In their lengthy judgment, the Bench has clearly set the constitutional parameters on the scope of governmental intervention in the management of religious institutions. 

In particular, the Court has opined that any G.O. that legally mandates a takeover of a temple must be for a fixed limited period, which I had suggested as three years. 

The Dravidian movement intellectuals and politicians in various parties in Tamil Nadu are incensed with the judgment. 

The recent article “Reforms in the House of God” (A. Srivathsan in The Hindu January 13, 2013) is one such example that laments the Supreme Court judgment. 

In this Dravidian movement background, it is not difficult to understand the views of those who believe that Hindu temples ought to be managed by the government, and that any deviation is a social, ethical, moral and legal sacrilege! 

In Mr. Srivathsan’s article it is stated that: “For almost a century, the Tamil Nadu government has been trying to bring the Chidambaram Natarajar temple or the Sabanayagar temple as it is officially known, under state administration”. 

This is one expression of the outlook that only Hindu religious affairs need to be managed by the government. 

The obvious question, why should a ‘secular, socialist’ government control only Hindu places of worship, but not Muslim and Christian religious institutions clearly has been avoided. 

But the country has moved on after the phase of British imperialist grip on Tamil Nadu during which phase the Dravidian Movement was founded. 

Prominent leaders of this Movement had declared that “blowing up of the Nataraja Temple by a cannon is the goal of the Dravidian Movement”. 

Unfortunately for them, in the last two decades, the rising popularity of the Hindu religion among the youth, and the debilitating corruption in financial affairs of the Dravidian movement have made such a violent aim unattainable. 

But the biggest roadblock is the Constitution of India. 

In fact, what is scandalous is the corruption after takeover of temples by the Tamil Nadu officials, MLAs and Ministers by looting the temple wealth, lands, and jewels, and the reckless diversion of donations of devotees to non-religious purposes. 

For example, temple properties: Tamil Nadu temples, under Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department, has control over more than 4.7 lakh acres of agricultural land, 2.6 crore square feet of buildings and 29 crore square feet of urban sites of temples. By any reasonable measure, the income from these properties should be in thousand of crores of rupees. 

The government, however, collects a mere Rs.36 crore in rent against a ‘demand’ of mere Rs.304 crore — around 12 per cent realisation. How much is under the table only a court-monitored inquiry can reveal. 

In any corporate or well-managed organisation with accountability, those responsible would have been sacked. Yet, we have people rooting for ‘government administration’. 

Temples themselves: The Srirangam Ranganathar Temple paid the government a (yearly) fee of Rs. 18.56 crore (2010-11) for ‘administering the temple’; for employees rendering religious services, like reciting Vedas, Pasurams during the deity procession, no salary is paid’. 

There are 36 priests in Srirangam who perform the daily poojas— they are not paid a monthly fixed salary. 

They are entitled to offerings made by devotees and a share in the sale of archana tickets. 

Yet the temple pays a monthly salary ranging from Rs.8,000 to Rs.20,000 for the temple’s government-appointed employees, like watchman, car drivers etc. who perform no religious duties. 

[  COMMENT : Srirangam is the constituency of the current Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha !! ]

The situation is “significantly” better at the famous Nelliappar Temple in Tirunelveli. 

In this temple, priests performing daily pujas are paid monthly salaries, but ranging from Rs. 55-Rs. 72 (and this is during 2010-11). But did some politician not say you can have a hearty meal for Rs. 5 per day? But it is just Rs.1.65 per day, going by the standards of the ‘secular’ government. 

Many large temples maintain a fleet of luxury vehicles, typically the ‘fully loaded Toyota Innova’, for the use of VIPs! And for the use of assorted Joint and Additional Commissioners and, of course, the Commissioner himself. It is very difficult to understand the religious purpose such extravagance serves or even a ‘secular’ purpose! 

The HR & CE takes away annually around Rs.89 crore from the temples as administrative fee. The expenditure of the department including salaries is only Rs.49 crore. 

Why does the government overcharge the temples– literally scourging the deities – for a sub standard service? 

Temple antiquity: The third ‘contribution’ of the government is the mindless destruction of priceless architectural heritage of our temples. 

There are several instances of sand blasting of temple walls resulting in loss of historical inscriptions;wholesale demolition of temple structures and their replacement by concrete monstrosities; in a temple in Nasiyanur near Salem, an entire temple mandapam disappeared, leaving behind a deep hole in the ground, literally. 

Recently the government started covering the floor of Tiruvotriyur temple with marble, a stone never used in south Indian temples. 

The original floor was of ancient granite slabs with historical inscriptions. There are several initiatives for ‘renovation’ of temples — the bureaucrats rarely consult archaeologists or heritage experts. 

Without knowledge, experience, competence or appreciation and with great insensitivity they use inappropriate chemicals on ancient murals, insert concrete/cement structures, use ceramic tiles to ‘embellish’ sanctum sanctorum and construct ‘offices’ within temple premises. Ancient monuments 300 to 1000 plus years old are never ‘renovated’, only ‘restored’, a distinction that escapes the babus. 

More importantly, the Supreme Court, in the 2014 Chidambaram case has held that the government cannot arbitrarily take over temples, which is what has been happening in Tamil Nadu under the Dravidian movement’s influence. 

In the case of Trusts and Societies, takeover of temples can happen, the Supreme Court held, only on establishing a clear case of mal-administration and that too the takeover can be for a limited period, and the management of the temple will have to be handed back immediately after the ‘evil has been remedied’. 

There are several large temples in Tamil Nadu under government control for several decades. 

If the Supreme Court judgment is applied, then the government is in illegal, unethical and unfair control of these temples. Apart from being answerable for innumerable acts of dereliction of duty, defiling of temples that has resulted in loss of several thousands of crores of rupees to the temples and to their antiquity. 

That is my next move — to liberate all Hindu temples presently in government control on expired GOs. 

In the future we need to bring some mosques and churches to rectify the mismanagement going on in these places. 

Then the secularism of India’s intellectuals will be truly tested.

(The writer is a former Union Minister and a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party)

© The Hindu

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Should the riches of a temple be used for secular purpose?

Vivek Gumaste

Jul 17, 2011

The Shri Padmanabhaswamy Temple is no El Dorado. The fabulous treasure trove unearthed from the subterranean vaults of the hallowed  shrine in Thiruvananthapuram with its hordes of gleaming gold coins, exquisitely carved antique statuettes and overflowing caskets of rubies and diamonds, may parallel the imagined grandeur of legendary El Dorado but that is where all similarity ends. 

When dark cellars revealed the riches of a Kerala temple

El Dorado or the 'lost city of gold' was an undiscovered fabled haven of limitless riches supposedly located somewhere in the dense wilderness of the Amazon basin, making it fair game for one and all to pursue with no legal strictures or moral compulsions.

The wealth of the Shri Padmanabhaswamy temple was neither abandoned, unclaimed nor lost; it had been secreted away for safekeeping from the preying eyes of pillaging invaders. Its rediscovery within the legal precincts of this viable, functioning Hindu sanctorum reduces any controversy about its ownership to a nihility.

The treasure is without an iota of doubt the rightful property of the temple and by extrapolation of the Hindu community.

That this astonishing discovery was the direct fallout of a Supreme Court initiative responding to a PIL urging government control must also compel us to re-examine the role of the state in  Hindu religious matters: specifically its legality and its practical ramifications.

The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Act of 1951 (HRCE) invests state governments with authority over Hindu temples for the ostensible purpose of streamlining their functioning. 

At present, most Hindu temples in Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and a host of prominent temples like Jagannath Puri, Kashi Vishwanath, Vaishno Devi and Amarnath are under the jurisdiction of the government. 

The HRCE Act is ideologically flawed on two counts. First,it goes against the basic tenet of secularism that emphasizes separation of state and religion. Second, it smacks of blatant discrimination. When Islam and Christianity are given total freedom to conduct their affairs, why should Hinduism alone be singled out for these restrictive regulations?

Not surprisingly, the judiciary agrees. In a landmark decision in 2006, the Karnataka High Court struck down the Karnataka Hindu Religious and Endowment Act of 1997 indicating that "the legislation violated Articles 14, 25 and 26 of the Constitution which provided for right to equality, freedom of conscience and freedom of profession, practice and propagation of religion and also the freedom to manage the religious affairs."

More damning than this ideological infraction is the adverse practical impact of this act which has been exploited by unscrupulous politicians to siphon off crores of Hindu monies to sustain Muslim and Christian institutions, usurp temple land for personal gain and indulge in skullduggery to undermine Hindu institutions vis-a-vis its religious adversaries.

Below is a limited but telling list of some high profile instances of chicanery that demonstrate the extent and scope of wrongdoing via the HRCE Act:

•  Hindu temples are compelled to contribute 5% of their income to a government controlled discretionary Common Pool Fund.
•  In 1997, the Karnataka government exacted Rs 52 crore from Hindu temples but returned only Rs 17 crore; Rs 12 crore were allocated to madrassas and churches and Rs 23 crore were utilized for government programs. The figures for subsequent years till 2002 indicate a similar or even worse disparity.
• In AP, the state government has not denied the charge of appropriating 85% of TTD’s (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams) annual revenue of over Rs 3100 crores.
•  Probing an allegation of inappropriate donations made to NGO’s by the Shree Siddhivinayak Temple in Mumbai, Justice Tipnis concluded: ''... there is no method or principle followed for particular institutions. The only criteria for selection was recommendation or reference by trustees or the minister or a political heavy-weight, generally belonging to ruling party.''
•   In 2010, the Orissa government sold 500 acres belonging to the Jagannath Puri temple at a throw away price of 1 lakh per acre to the Vedanta foundation. Its efforts to sell another 1000 acres were aborted by the High Court.
•  In the 1980s, the then Kerala chief minister K Karunakaran ordered the Guruvayur Temple to deposit Rs 10 crore with the state treasury to offset a government deficit. Whether this money was ever returned or not is uncertain. In addition, the temple’s land holdings were decimated from 13000 acres to 230 acres by the Land reforms Act which conveniently excluded non-Hindu institutions.  

These examples pose two ethical questions. 

Does the government have the right to use religious money for secular purposes? 
Can money from Hindu charities be diverted to Muslim and Christian bodies without the consent of the former? 

Answers to both these questions have been clarified by the Karnataka High Court. 

Castigating illegal siphoning off of funds, the court categorically decreed, "Devotees of Hindu temples provide money for temple purposes and it cannot be spent for non-Hindu causes."

This no –nonsense, unequivocal verdict should categorically silence the uncouth clamor calling for the Padmanabhaswamy treasure to be used for secular causes like deficit reduction or a new subway system. 

Enough is enough. This is Hindu money and can be utilized only for Hindu purposes for which there is a definite need.

Throughout the ages, Hindu temples, because of their opulence have evoked envy and greed leading at times to their destruction. 

The greater part of the second millennium saw Muslims loot, plunder, and raze hundreds of Hindu temples. 

In modern times, Hindu temples are not being physically destroyed: they are being economically bled to death by unprincipled governments pursuing a warped policy.

Stephen Knapp, a Western Vedic scholar and author of'Crimes Against India and the Need to Protect its Ancient Vedic Tradition' commenting on temple governance remarks: "Government officials have taken control of Hindu temples because they smell money in them, they recognize the indifference of Hindus, they are aware of the unlimited patience and tolerance of Hindus... Many Hindus are sitting and watching the demise of their culture. They need to express their views loud and clear." 

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http://pseudosecularism.blogspot.in/2003/10/revenues-from-temples-diverted-for-haj.html

Revenues From Temples Diverted For Haj Subsidy And Madarassas In Karnataka

Anjali Patel 

October 29, 2003

Highlights: 

• 70% (Rs. 50.00 Crores) of Hindu Temples money is diverted for Muslim Madarasas and Haj by Indian Government. 
• 5,000 Temples in Karnataka to be closed down due to lack of funding and maintenance 
• During Kumbh Mela in Nasik each Hindu was forced to pay Rs.25 to Rs.50 for a dip in the holy water. Congress, BJP and Shiv Sena said nothing about this (while giving money to Muslims and Christians). 
• Today, if a Hindu or Sikh wishes to visit holy places in Kailash Mansarovar or Gurudwara in Pakistan, leave alone subsidiary, they are forced to shell out large amount of money to visit their holy places (while Islam enjoys massive 70% share of Hindus hard earned money to visit Haj in Saudi Arabia)

Details: 

The Congress Government of Karnataka has made another breakthrough in appeasing the Minority Communities in Karnataka.

The Government passed a bill in the assembly that all private owned temples and the temple comprising of trustees in Karnataka must pay minimum tax to the Government every year.

Failing to which, the authorized people of the temple would be liable and or would be prosecuted.

This law is being passed in order to generate income for the development of madarasas and provide subsidies to Haj Pilgrims in Karnataka. 

Earlier to this the Government was collecting the entire income from all the Government Controlled temples in the state.

It looks like the Congress Government of Karnataka is more concerned about the madarassas and the Haj Committee, but it has turned a blind eye at the fate of 2.5 lakh Hindu Temples in Karnakata, which is actually under their direct control.

If the Government continues its neglect towards the maintenance and development of these temples for other few years, we will not be surprised to see that over 50,000 Temples will be forced to closed town in next five years.

Karnatka is the 4th State in India of having highest number of temples, out of which large number require immediate financial aid.

In regard to this, we made a visit to few ancient temples in Karnakata.

We felt very sad seeing the pathetic conditions of the poorly maintained temples by the Government.

We had spoken to a few temples Uttaradhikaris and priests in Government owned temple. Each and everyone expressed their displeasure and at the attitude of the Government.

They say that they are not receiving any financial aid for day-to-day maintenance of the temple.

They even said that they were employed on salary basis, which they are not receiving regularly.

Some priests told us that they have not received salaries for over 6 months period and they are surviving only on collections donated by the devotees by the in the “Aarti” plate. 

In view of the Coming Lok Sabha elections, the Government would like to appease their precious vote bank by even taxing the individual owned temples in Karnataka to generate more money for madarassa development and Haj Subsidy.

It is unfortunate that even the opposition party like the BJP, which has come to power at the centre on the Hindutva platform has remained quite in this matter.

Today If a Hindu or Sikh wishes to visit our holy place in Kailash Mansarovar or the holy Gurudwara in Pakistan, leave alone subsidy, they are forced to shell out large amount of money to visit their holy shrines.

Few days back, during the Kumbh Mela in Nasik, each Hindu was forced to pay Rs.25/- to Rs.50/- to have a dip in the holy sangam. In Maharashtra too the there is a Congress Government and it is the same silent opposition BJP and Shivsena.

Is anybody seriously concerned about this?

The Hindus and their temples have no source of income from anywhere. They are forced to generate all the finance in India itself.

But it is not the same in the case of Muslims and Christians.

The Muslims receive aid from many Muslim countries in various forms and the Christians receive bountiful grants in the form of charities from their Christian Brothers in Vatican city, Europe, America, Australia etc.

To further appease their precious vote bank what has the Governments in store for Hindus in the future?

Tomorrow they may collect taxes from Hindus, if Hindus want to survive in Hindustan.