Who Should Control Temples

Religious diversity is the identity of India.
Our country is filled different religions and every religion

has its own place of worship. Muslims call it Mosque; Christians call it church , Sikh’s call it
Gurudwara and Hindu’s call its temple,. What ever the name maybe they all serve the one purpose.
These are places where religious rituals are carried on. A place where people come to feel that
connect with god, a sense of spirituality. Being a Hindu majority country there are more Hindu
temples than any other religion. But have you ever wondered who runs these temples, who controls
them, where does all that money you put into that hundi goes? I am ging to answer those questions
in today’s episode.
As per the article 26 of the Indian constitution. Every religion has the right to have religious
establishments and manage them on their own without any out-side intervention. Normally all
these religious places have a governing body called as trust. Which is managed a by a group of
people called as trustees. They look into the day to day affairs. they decide on how they are going to
spend the money they receive in the form of donations. Any surplus money left after meeting the
expenses like administration, charitable activities etc should be deposited into banks or should be
invested somewhere. Being a kind of non-profit organization, income of a temple is not taxed.All the
income that god earns is tax free.This is how a Hindu temple, Church or Mosques etc are run. They
are independent organizations, run without government intervention. At least this is what we think.
But reality is bit different. Governments are slowly taking control of the Hindu temples and only
Hindu temples. All the other religious places of worship are independent and government don’t
interfere in their matters. Which is a good thing. But why that that discrimination towards hindu
temples.
Recently I made an episode on secularism. And that concept says there should be a wall of
separation between government and the religion. India is a secular country, at least that is what
mentioned in our constitution .and governments control on temples goes against that rule. To get a
better understanding we have to ask 2 questions.
Why government is taking over the control of Hindu temples?
What’s wrong with that?
The First question…. Why Government is taking control of temples. Indian temples are one of the
richest. Filled with walth. Every time a devotee goes to a temple, he drops some money into that
hundi. Some rich people show their love towards god in the form of Gold, silver and diamonds. Some
of these temples earn insane amount of money. Take the example of Tirupati Balaji temple. The
richest temple in India. In 2019 alone this temple earned 1161. Cr through Hundi’s. and this amount
doesn’t include the gifts in the form of gold, silver and diamond. Also, Tirupati Balaji earns more
845crore in the form of interest on his fixed deposits with various banks. That’s a lot. Tirupati is just
an example we have some top revenue generating temples like shirdi sai baba temple, siddhi
Vinayak temple in Maharashtra, Kashi Vishwanath temple in banaras. If government can control
these temples it can access the temple funds and divert them towards government spending. And
that what is ging on. Government appoints its representatives in the temple board of trustees and
slowly the power shifts from the temple trust to government. All the state governments are doing
this. It is more prevalent in south India because the south India is filled with some rich temples.
Government is even charging tax on these temples’ income. Let me give you an example. Sri
Dhandayuthapani Swamy Temple, Tamil Nadu.in this temple All the hundi collections are deposited
into a bank account which is in the name of god. This temple is controlled by government. In a year
Normally temple expenses range between 65% -70 % of the income. But this temple has a target to
spend at least 85% of its income. where do this extra spending go, to government programmes? If in
any year they fail to spend target money that shortfall amount is taxed at a rate applicable for
individuals. Literally government is taxing the temple.
But governments give other reasons. They say temples trusts are mismanaged, that’s the reason
they are taking control of these temples. Actually, governments are allowed to do that. In case of
mismanagement in any temple they can take control of the trust and return them back after things
are set right. But government are not doing that, they are not returning this temple back to trust.
Also, when the government give the reason of mis management, are they trying to say that there is
no mis management in the any mosque, church or gurudwara? Not possible. But government never
interferes in their matters. Also govent silent on why the temple funds are bring
diverted.Somewhere governments are going against the secularism mentioned in our constitution.
Ok let’s think from another perspective. What is wrong in governments managing temples. A valid
question to ask.
Government is managing temples. But is it any better than the trust which was previously managing
it? Well , We all know that government offices are filled with corruption. In the same Tirupati temple
in 2019. Gold and Dimond ornaments worth 7,36,000 rupees went missing. We have also seen the
laddu scam wroth 14 Lakhs. Situations didn’t get better under government’s management.
Somewhere we are politicizing a community issue. Government is allowing politicians to take
control of the temples. That’s not right. There will be problems but that particular community will
deal with it. Government job is to supervise but not to interfere.
Temple is an independent body and it has the right to govern itself. If a temple voluntarily donates
money to government then it’s a good thing. Government can take that money and fund
government policies. But government is forcing temples to give that money. Temples kind of became
source of revenue for the government. Not only revenues, temples are also losing their assets.
Mostly real estate. Every temple owns some portion of land. Which is meant to be used for the
community activiities. Like having function halls for community wedding, School’s to teach Vedas
and etc. But government is taking control of this land also . In the last 60 years 47000 acres of
land was taken over from temples in Tamil Nadu alone.
Also, over the period temples kind of became commercial places. Everyone should be treated
equally inside a temple. But today that’s not the case. Pay a little bit extra you will get a privileged
access, VIP darshan. And those poor people have to wait in the que for hours just to get a glance of
the daitee. Does god discrimate based on rich and poor.?Leave the issue of religious discrimination,
here we have the discrimination with in the religion under the super vision of government.
Today government controls 4 lakh out of an estimated 9 lakh temples across India . I am just not
talking about current governments . this phenomenon is nothing new…. this is going on since British
era. All the govenments til now exploited and still exploting the temples. even after Indian
independence from British… Hindu temples are still waiting for their indolence from the
government. The intention with which you put that money in to hundi and the purpose for which
these funds are used is totally different. So, Next time when you go to the temple…. Just think about
it.
Source :
https://theprint.in/opinion/indian-govt-wont-be-any-different-from-british-if-hindus-cant-manage-
their-own-temples/218210/
https://www.sundayguardianlive.com/news/demand-free-temples-government-control

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Religious diversity is the identity of India.

Our country is filled different religions and every religion

Why government is taking over the control of Hindu temples?

What’s wrong with that?

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