Devotees Arise, Awake & Respond Series: Hon'ble Chief Minister Samuel Reddy- Please liberate Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh

[Guest guest]

Letter to Hon'ble Dr Y. Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy , Chief Minister, Andhra

Pradesh

 

a) Government Control of Temples is anti- Hindu, anti- secular and

amounts to suppression of Hindus fundamental right of religious freedom; and, b)

the entire Seven Hills at TTD are a sacred domain.

 

Hon'ble Chief Minister Reddy,

The Hindu community across the globe is appalled to learn about the proposal

being considered by your administration for allowing the construction of a

church atop "Tirumala" (attachment A). Such flagrant violation of the domain of

Hindu religion in favor of an other religion, particularly at the directive of a

government proclaiming to be secular, is fraught with serious political and

religious consequences. It also underlines the fundamental flaws in the policy

being used by the administration as a tool to take the religion of its disliking

as a captive with intent to uproot its foundations. Mr. Chief Minister,

historically isn't that exactly what the Muslim and Christian invaders of India

did? How shameful it is that this colonial criminal activity of destroying

India's original culture and religion should continue in free India!

 

Sadly, going by their past record of temple and endowment management, the AP

governments, one after the other, have become an effective instrument for

demolishing the Hindu religious infrastructure. This has encouraged the

Christian zealots to have scant regard for the majority Hindu rights &

sentiments, and they would rather blatantly pursue a religious crusade against

Hindus. As CM it is your responsibility to maintain communal harmony and direct

the religious zealots to shun their confrontational tactics. The most rational

and politically prudent method for resolving this explosive issue and for

avoiding controversy, confrontation and communal unrest would be to revert the

management of Hindu temples to their rightful owners i.e., the Hindu community

 

 

The AP government and the TTD trust must realize that these places of worship

belong to the Hindu "samaj", that have built and supported the shrines since

ancient times. Any diversion of revenues, major changes in physical

structures, sale/ transfer of lands and properties e.g. the proposal for land

for a Church atop Tirumala, religious practices or major projects like the

"Master Plan" at TTD must take place only upon the approval by the community.

 

 

Mr. Dharma Reddy, the special officer claims that only 10 1/3 Square miles of

land belong to the Mandir and administered by the TTD. The statement which is

influenced by some religious and commercial interests is totally unacceptable to

Hindus, who for sure know that the entire Seven Hills is the sacred land of

Hindus. The government must take note of it and declare without any ambiguity

that the entire Seven Hills is sacred and belongs to Bhagawan Venkateshwara

Mandir and that NO structure of any other religion could be allowed to encroach

upon of the Seven Hills. Any violation of this reality could be a source of

unending conflict like the Babri structure.

 

Special note should be taken of the fact that the Parliament through an Act in

1991 legislated that -"the status of religious places, as on August 15, 1947

shall be retained". It is the primary duty of the Govt. to respect and strictly

enforce this law without discrimination against any religious formation. The

faithful implementation of this law itself will require the authorities to

revert the control of places of worship of Hindus to the community governance as

well as preempt construction of structures of other religions in the whole seven

hills area.

 

There are allegations of Christianization in the state e.g.: a) award of

contract for mid day meals in schools to Christian NGOs who also make them chant

Yesu namah before the meals,

 

b) award of Tirumala temple Prasadam procurement to a company by one Mr. Mathew

throwing out the traditional vendors, supposedly to save money, when ironically

state allegedly takes away 85% from some 33,000 temples revenues, leaving

pujaris to starve. The Tender system that had been followed all these years

must be restored.

 

c) the TTD under your administration handed over the SVIMS (Sri Venkateshwara

Institute of Medical Sciences) Tirupati's cardiac tele-medical facility to the

division of Madras Mission Hospital called the Frontier Life Line. Why should

the hospital that runs entirely on Hindu devotee's money have anything to do

with a Christian proselytizing hospital?

 

The members of TTD board are political appointees without regard to TTD's rules

or interests facilitating govt. meddling. This leads many to wonder if your

administration clandestinely supports a crusade against Hindus in Andhra

Pradesh.

 

Just as in the case of shrines of other religions, the TTD Board and temples and

endowments governance must be of the Hindus, by the Hindus and for the Hindus.

 

The unforgivable and unforgettable destruction of Mandapam at TTD (Tirupathi

Tirumala Devasthanam) with official participation is a symptom of a deep malaise

- the unwarranted government interference in Hindu places of worship. Due to the

aggressive anti-Hindu policy pursued by the Govt. there is an acceleration of

disintegration of Hindu religious infrastructure in Andhra Pradesh. To further

improve their political fortunes the Naxals are distributing temple lands. The

massive land scam in Hathiramji Mutt at Tirumala, and the infamous demolition of

1000 pillar mandapam at Tirumala represent the multiple strategies for

inflicting injury upon Hinduism. And then there is the most serious and

controversial issue related to the siphoning of the temple revenues and lands.

Furthermore, the government of AP has yet to reimburse Rs 28 crores to the

endowment department towards the value of the temple lands illegally acquired

earlier for bus terminals, police stations, etc.

 

The proposal for a church atop Tirumala is not only an insult but will create a

tense environment at a peaceful shrine. What other motive can be there be in the

proposal but to cause hurt to Hindu sentiments, degrade and meddle in their

religious practices and customs. There is plenty of land elsewhere in Andhra

Pradesh for churches. For the sake of comparison, can one imagine a Shiva temple

in Vatican or Mecca? In Saudi Arabia one cannot openly have even the Bible or

the Geeta.

 

It is shocking that on the one hand the Indian Govt. subsidizes the "Haj"

pilgrimage of the Muslims to the tune of Rs. 200 crores annually and on the

other the AP authorities are crusading to stealthily destroy the self-supporting

foundations and structure of Hindu places of worship. Democratic and secular

governments do not penalize or patronize religions. Such extra legal actions

constitute a reverse discrimination against the religion of India's majority

community.

 

 

It is revolting to the conscience of a civilized society, that their places of

worship are controlled and seriously debilitated by government. If Mahatma

Gandhi were alive today, he would have strongly disapproved and possibly gone on

hunger strike to have justice done to the majority community.

 

With yearly revenues of thousands of crores of rupees and properties worth lakhs

of crores of rupees involved in these non-transparent trusts, the public is

suspicious of scams. The general public, with a view to avoid a backlash, has

been kept in the dark about the sale and illegal occupation of the temple owned

lands. Therefore, pending denationalization and to allay public doubts and fears

the issuance of white papers by the state government could be an appropriate

course of action to follow. Such white papers should specifically detail the

conditions, financial health and religious activities undertaken by the

endowment departments since the Govt. control of Hindu religious entities.

 

Our contention encompasses the legal and philosophical commitment of the secular

Indian State - that the management and administration of the religious

institutions, their estates and places of worship, must reside in the hands of

the representative bodies of the believers. For instance: How would Sikhs

(Golden temple), Muslims (Jama Masjid, Ajmer Sharif) or Christians react to

Govt. control of their places of worship? Such an intrusion by the government

authority in otherwise an autonomous domain has a potential to generate a chain

of serious consequences including the charges against the state itself for being

a major instrument of dismantling Hinduism

 

 

Hon'ble Chief Minister: Here are some basic questions: What authority,

background and training do the govt. operatives possess for controlling every

aspect of the Hindu cultural centers? Why not allow an autonomous Hindu board

to govern temples under the guidance of religious leaders, just as for other

religions? The Waqf Board of Muslims and the management of Christian religious

institutions have vast funds, properties and endowments, in addition to the

immense flow of foreign funds - yet with their autonomy intact!

 

As proven by their injurious governance, the state legislature may have passed

the measure to takeover temples on the basis of misinformed and biased voting or

for political, financial and religious interests in endowments. It seriously

violates constitutional precepts of secularism - separation of state and

religion, is against the accepted norms in all free and democratic societies, is

discriminatively applicable only to Hindu temples and amounts to suppression of

Hindus fundamental right of religious freedom.

 

 

 

May we suggest that the representatives of shrines, temples, Hindu community and

religious leaders from Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, etc. be motivated to convene

an assembly where they could be asked to take charge of clearly defining the new

legal framework for the community governance of temples and other religious

places. Such an approach among other things could make the community coalition

Board completely autonomous and thereby responsible and accountable for the

entire administration including planning, executing, auditing, guiding,

investigating and taking corrective steps on any allegations and or complaints

as and when needed.

 

 

 

There are other dharmik aspects also, e.g. sewa and dharma prachar that only an

NGO Hindu Board could pursue. The temples are not just for rituals by purohits

but also the centre of community's cultural, social and spiritual life and also

the places of learning with acharyas. Regrettably the state controls have all

but eliminated these roles of temples.

 

 

It is also ironic that the systematic campaign to demolish Hindu religion in

India should progressively continue while the Hindu India popularly known as

"Hindustan" is ruled by a Muslim President, a Christian Parliamentary and UPA

Leader, a Sikh Prime Minister and a Christian Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh,

whose own religions are assault free and therefore, they do not have sufficient

incentives or need to intervene. Nonetheless, should they continue their utter

disregard and indifference towards enforcing the principles of secularism in

defense of the majority community's religion when they are at the top positions,

such inaction would have the potential of triggering a massive and commutative

backlash.

 

 

Hon'ble Chief Minister, may we suggest that you exercise your leadership and a)

pass an urgent legislation to denationalize temples in the state, including the

TTD shrine; b) scrap Section 30 of Endowments Act Amendment of 1987 paving way

for the creation of Hindu Board that could look after all religious and related

affairs on par with the Wakf Board; and c) declare the entire Seven Hills as

sacred, and structures of any other religion be barred on any of the Seven

Hills. If you could have the controversial legislation for 5% quota for Muslims

passed, there is no reason why an urgent legislative action could not be taken

to liberate temples that concerns over 80% of the population. Violation of

majority's freedom for managing its places of religious worship and continuing

intrusion and imposition of governmental dictates in an otherwise autonomous

domain, will justify the charge against the state of being anti- Hindu,

anti-secular and for suppressing Hindus fundamental right of religious freedom.

 

Hon'ble Dr Y. Samuel Rajasekhara Reddy please liberate Hindu temples in your

state.

 

 

 

With best wishes, and hoping for a prompt response.

 

Sincerely,

Dr. Jagan Kaul

July 17, 2005

Krishan Bhatnagar

Hindu Jagran Forum (Maryland, USA)

email: krishan.kb

 

======================

Attachment A

BJP urges Government not to allot land to build a church atop Tirumala

Special Correspondent

 

The Hindu July 1, 2005

http://www.hinduonnet.com/2005/07/01/stories/2005070106830400.htm

 

HYDERABAD: The BJP has claimed that a religious society had applied for land to

build a church atop Tirumala hills and urged the Government not to consider the

proposal.

 

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, the State BJP vice-president,

S.V. Seshagiri Rao, and secretary, N.V.S.S.Prabhakar, said the move to build a

church on the hills was "totally improper."

 

Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, was a holy shrine for Hindus all over

the world, they said. Stating that they had information that the Government was

examining to allot land, they urged it to drop the move.

 

The BJP leaders also demanded a CBI probe into the temple lands scam maintaining

that only such an enquiry would help in punishing the culprits involved in it.

 

They demanded that the Government initiate measures to protect properties of

Tirumala-based Hathiramji Mutt which were encroached in the State, Maharashtra

and Tamil Nadu.