Government Takeover of Temples in 2021- Analysis
Freedom of Temples from State Control is a campaign that has gained huge momentum in the last couple of years thanks to the efforts of certain dharmic people/organizations who are bringing issues on the takeover of temples by the Government and its subsequent mismanagement. In this article, let us look at a list of temples that were taken over by the Secular Government despite its inefficiency in properly managing thousand of temples that are already under its ambit. From news reports, it looks like all these temples were taken over without any reason. Around nine temples that were taken over in the year 2021.
1. Three ancient temples in Bengaluru namely Sri Anjaneya Swamy Temple, Sri Channarayaswamy Temple, and Sri Venkataramanaswamy Temple.
Date of Takeover – A notification was released on 26th March 2021.
Brief Description – Through a notification, a new managing committee was formed for these 3 temples. These are C-Category temples. There is no clarity on whether it is a denominational temple.
State and Political Party in Power – Karnataka, BJP
Current Status – Pradhan Archakars of these 3 temples challenged the takeover in the Supreme Court. Supreme Court issued a notice to the Government of Karnataka on July 21 and currently the case is going on.
2. Neelkanth Mahadev Temple, Kandapatna
Date of Takeover – February 2021
Brief Description – A 24-member executive committee has been constituted and out of which 12 are government representatives. No clarity on whether it is a denominational temple.
State and Political Party – Himachal Pradesh, BJP
Current Status – Committee has been constituted. That is confirmed. But whether it is challenged or not is not yet clear.
3. Mehandipur Balaji Mandir
Date of the takeover – Around August 2021
Brief Description – A Mahant of that temple died in August and straight away the State Government decided to form a management committee. Representatives of Goswami Samaj stated that the successor was readily available and representatives of only Goswami Samaj were traditionally involved in the temple administration for hundreds of years. It is a 400-year-old temple. So, this temple is a denominational temple which means a clear violation of Article 26.
State and Political party -Rajasthan, Congress
Current Status – Temple trust challenged the takeover in Rajasthan High Court and Rajasthan High Court stayed the takeover of this temple. This is a temporary success but the Government won’t give up so they will try everything to take over this temple and this matter may even go till Supreme Court.
4. Maa Purnagiri Temple
Date of Takeover – March 2021
Brief Description – A trust was formed in March 2021 where the Government formed an administrative committee. Pujaris were opposing this decision and warned of protests in March 2021. Pujaris met the CM on August 16th to urge the CM not to form the trust. According to the former chairman of the temple committee, Kishan Tiwari, “Chief Minister has given assurance not to form a trust on August 16th as of now.” On the face of it, it does sound good but what is “as of now”?. Also, a similar promise was made by Uttarakhand CM on 9th April to remove 51 temples from the Devasthanam Board which is still not implemented. So, the trust factor in the Uttarakhand Government is an issue. It is a denominational temple where the Tiwari and Padya priests have been traditionally involved in temple administration.
State and Political Party – Uttarakhand, BJP
Current Status – As mentioned above, Uttarakhand CM promised not to form a trust as of now. We have to wait and see if the CM implements the promise especially since the previous promise of freeing 51 temples is not yet implemented.
5. Chandrabadni temple
Date of Takeover – August 2021
Description – The temple was taken over by the Government after the Government included this temple in Devasthanam Board( Board formed by Government in 2019 as per the Char Dham Devasthanam Act, 2019). So 52 temples are under Government control in form of the Devasthanam Board. In 1984, as per a Court order, Chandrabadni Business Management Committee has been formed under the chairmanship of Pandit Dataram Bhatt(private). So Government control of this temple in the form of the Devasthanam board is also in violation of Court Orders. As per a Twitter user, pujaris in this temple are of Angirasa Gotra(perhaps the only family in that lineage) and if this is true then it is definitely a denominational temple.
State and Political Party – Uttarakhand, BJP.
Current Status – Pujaris are opposing this decision as the takeover took place in the previous month(August 2021).
6. Jagannath Temple, Samba
Date of Takeover – March 2021,
Description – Pujaris have accused the administration and Assistant Commissioner of Revenue of takeover the temple and illegally occupied the temple land with help of some people. Traditional Mahant was asked to leave the temple after appointing a new priest as an employee.
Political Party and State – Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Lieutenant Governor
Current Status – No Clarity
7. Adi Kesava Perumal temple, Mylapore
Date of the takeover – August 2021
Description – Tamil Nadu Government had taken over Sri Aadhi Kesava Perumal Temple in Mylapore on August 13, 2021, and that it would appoint its own Thakkar(Fit Person) by sacking the trustees. Temple has been declared as a denominational temple in August 1954 by Madras High Court. This ancient temple which is also the avathara sthalam of Vaishnavite saint-poet Pey Azhvaar belongs to Thenkalai Vaishnava sampradaya temple and Madras High Court had earlier refused the plea of HRCE to takeover this temple.
Political Party and State – Tamil Nadu, DMK.
Current Status – No Clarity in the sense Government told the Madras High Court that they are withdrawing the GO to takeover this temple but as per a Twitter user, the Government or HRCE issued a fresh go-to suspend the traditional sampradaya trustees and if this is the case then it is in violation of Article 26 and Madras High Court Judgement.
To sum it up, temples taken over in the year 2021 can be freed overnight or in a second without any sort of process being involved and there won’t be any requirement of discussions on alternate management framework as the traditional sampradaya pujaris/trustees are managing the temple exceptionally well. 9 fewer temples will be freed from Government interference which itself will be an achievement considering the times in which we live. But will the Secular Government have the political will and courage to take this step to free 9 temples overnight?
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