State Control of Temples is not just limited to the Southern States
Thanks to the 2021 Assembly elections in Tamilnadu and Kerala, State control of temples and saving temple traditions(Sabarimala) have suddenly gained tremendous social media traction. The major reason for this traction is Sadguru Jaggi’s campaign to free Hindu temples in Tamilnadu. Sadguru has been tweeting for the past two months on Twitter regarding the reasons to free Hindu temples in Tamilnadu, along with some factual data. There are positives and negatives to the campaign of Sadguru. Positives are the awareness aspect, especially when Sadhuguru shares the data on the atrocities on Hindu temples under Government control (data on Idol thefts, land encroachment, temples not having money to conduct a pooja, etc.). When Sadhguru shares all this data, it creates a massive awareness and adds to it the social media hashtags and missed calls regarding the free Hindu temple movement.
There are a couple of negatives or concerns. The first concern is that Sadhguru should continue with this campaign even after the elections are over, as it should not be reduced to a mere poll issue. The free Hindu temples movement is much larger than a poll issue as it needs to be looked at from the civilization’s survival aspect as the temple is an identity for an ordinary Hindu and an only institutional backing for a common Hindu whether that Hindu is from North or South. Temple is the only hope for a Hindu to fight the forces which are targeting us. So there are many steps that we Hindus have to follow for our civilization to survive. The first is to ensure that the various Hindu communities are part of the temple ecosystem, including reinstating those communities in the temple ecosystem who were traditionally dependent on the temple for their survival. To ensure the participation of the diverse Hindu communities in the temple ecosystem, the temples are to be freed from the control and interference of the secular State.
The second concern with the campaign of Sadhguru to free temples in Tamil Nadu is that it should not create this perception that temple takeover is an issue of southern states only or an issue only related to Tamilnadu. Some Hindus who are not from the South spread this narrative that temple takeovers are solely limited to the South. This narrative became extremely popular when the 2019 Char Dham Act of Uttarakhand came in news, where the State government decided to take over major Hindu temples. Here since the state government is of BJP, Right Wing was spreading this narrative. During the Uttarakhand temple takeover, certain people belonging to the Right-wing from the northern states stated on social media that “focus on temples in the South as many atrocities are happening on Southern temples. Temple takeover scenario in northern states is completely different from the South”. I absolutely disagree with this point of view. Yes, atrocities or mismanagement of temples by the State are happening more regularly in the Southern States. Still, the takeover and control of temples by the State itself is unconstitutional and illegal. There are regular recent instances of private temples being taken over by the State, especially in the North, without any clarity regarding the takeover’s purpose or period. Control or takeover of Hindu Temples by State is in violation of Articles 25 and 26 of the Constitution. In many judgements, the Honourable Supreme Court has stated that the State can take over temples if it can prove financial mismanagement by private parties. After the State proves the financial mismanagement by private parties, the Honourable Supreme Court has further stated that State can take over temples for a fixed or a limited period to cure the financial misappropriation. Ideally, after the financial misappropriation is cured, the State has to return the temple to the community. This is the legal process concerning the takeover of temples by the secular State. But Right Wing living in the northern states is not aware of this legal process as they believe as long as the secular State does not mismanage the temples, temple takeover by Secular State is well and good. State control of temples is not a South Indian Issue, but a pan India issue, and priests or private parties have filed cases challenging the temple takeovers in states like Haryana and Bihar. Only the government control of temples in the South gets mainstream media attention. Still, government control of temples in non-South states hardly get any attention and even in social media, temple takeover in the non-South States barely gets any traction. Except for Uttarakhand, the temple takeover in the non-Southern states did not gain any attention. In some cases, the community or the priests or private trustees are fighting legal battle challenging the temple takeover in non-South states. At the same time, in some other cases, a temple takeover just happens instantly. The community is also helpless because the news of the temple takeover in the northern states does not even get published in English media or does not even get the awareness in social media where this news gets published only in local media. I understand that there are massive atrocities on temples in the southern states, but it is still not an excuse to neglect temple takeover matters in the non-south states.
I will try to talk about the temple takeover status in Himachal Pradesh (as an example) since the state control of temples is hugely underreported and hardly gets any media attention and even on Social Media. The state government controls around 34-35 temples under the administration of the Himachal Pradesh Hindu Public Religious Institution and Charitable Endowments Act, 1984. A subsequent amendment, the Himachal Pradesh Hindu Public Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill) was passed in 2018. According to a Times of India report, the Bill stated that the government would take 15% of total temple funds or 15 % of the temples’ total income in Himachal Pradesh. It is similar to 18% contribution or fees taken from the total income of the temples by the government of Tamilnadu or 23.5% fees or Contribution took from the temples’ total revenue by the government of Andhra Pradesh. Following is the data on the top rich temples under government control in Himachal Pradesh.
In February 2021, the Himachal government took over Nilkanth Mahadev temple Kandapatna without mentioning the reason or takeover period. A 24 member executive committee was formed, and out of this, 12 are government officers. The sad part is only Hindi media (Amar Ujala) covered this takeover of Nilkanth Mahadev temple. Not even a single English media reported this news. In another instance, Sadadshiv Mahadev temple, Dhiunsar in Himachal Pradesh, was taken over by the government without any reasons and without mentioning the period of the takeover. The Temple Charitable Trust appealed against this takeover in the High Court of Himachal Pradesh, and the Honourable High Court granted a stay order. Sadly, this news was also not covered in any English media, and the majority of the Hindus are unaware of this blatant encroachment into their religious freedom. Attempt to take over the Sadadshiv Mahadev temple was also reported only in local news. The point is, the issue of taking over private temples in Uttarakhand (55 temples under 2019 Char Dham Act), Deori Temple in Ranchi in September 2020, two temples of Haryana in 2017 (Shri Mata Chandi Devi Temple, Chandi Mandir, Panchkula and Shri Durga Mata Mandir at Banbhori in Hisar district), Tripura Sundari Temple of Tripura in 2018 etc. are unconstitutional. Should we wait for Government to mismanage the temple like in the southern states to raise our voice against State control of temples? Or should we challenge the takeover of our temples, which deprives Hindu communities of the fundamental right to manage and administer their temples?
References-
https://www.tribuneindia.com/news/himachal/temples-in-himachal-teeming-with-money-gold-silver-49127
