Article 26 being violated. Y. Samuel Reddy could be arrested, Oh! sorry it's India

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By Sandhya Jain

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In the cyclical battles between the Devas and the Asuras, there are moments when

the latter, ensconced in an overweening arrogance, appear all-powerful and

invincible. The wise know their fall will be sudden, dramatic, and complete. And

so it shall be with the so-called Revolutionary Leader of Tamil Nadu, who has

violated immutable rules of dharma by subordinating the sacred to State power.

 

It is a measure of Hindu disarmament at the hands of the BJP's determinedly

secular leadership that

 

no credible opposition could be launched against the outright assault upon Hindu

institutions. There is a great urgency for the Hindu community to regain control

of temples from the State, which has no respect for the sanctity of either the

temples or the Gurus. A credible legal case can be made about religious

discrimination against the Hindu community, because rich Hindu temples are alone

seized by Government and their resources diverted to ends for which there is no

public mandate.

 

In Karnataka, the annual revenue of over Rs 72 crore from Hindu temples is

misused to support faiths that condemn Hindu dharma as "false" and indulge in

conversions; Rs 50 crore goes as Hajj subsidy and Rs 10 crores as church

maintenance. Hindu temples can barely cover the salary of priests, and have

nothing left for maintenance. Yet Chief Minister Dharam Singh shamelessly hosted

the super-evangelist Benny Hinn, who is currently under the scrutiny of the US

Internal Revenue Service!

 

 

The situation is hardly better in other states. In Andhra Pradesh, Chief

Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy used his position to bring Christian institutions

into the decision making loop of the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam and its

institutions, and may even be facilitating a church on the holy hills. In

Kerala, the State Government wanted to loot Guruvayur Devaswom funds for a water

supply and drainage scheme for the town; only stiff Hindu opposition finally

shelved the scheme.

 

What is being undermined here is not the Hindu right over utilisation of temple

funds, however substantial, but the foundational tenet of Hindu dharma that man

owes a debt to the gods (daiva rna), to the teachers (gurus rna) and to the

ancestors (pitr rna). Today, only the last is still being paid because it lies

within the realm of the individual households.

 

Daiva rna has been usurped by the government which not only takes away current

temple revenues, but even the lands that devotees have bequeathed over centuries

for the upkeep of temples. The Andhra Government recently sold 250 acres of

endowment land for a pittance, when the market price was at least one crore per

acre. There is a sustained disrespect of Hindu dharma by the so-called secular

state. What right does the government have to appoint members to the Boards of

major temples (usually members of the party in power, and even IAS officers)?

 

State interference in Hindu institutions violates Article 26, which guarantees

every denomination the freedom 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 law.

 

Given the awesome State mismanagement, the Supreme Court would do well to

revisit the Guruvayur Temple verdict, wherein it held that State could appoint

managers as temple administration is a secular task, as opposed to spiritual

management. Since Article 26 explicitly bestows freedom to "administer such

property in accordance with law," there is no justification for the State

appropriating temple property and revenues on the pretext of supervising them.