Sit-in agitation by Temple Trusts, priest and Hindu organisations for stopping the Govt takeover of temples !
Nagpur : The present Government has started routinely taking over only Hindu temples by disregarding the opposition of all Hindu devotees, priests, Trustees and Hindu organisations. After the case of Shani Shingnapur, the Government is planning to legislate a special Act in respect of temples of Shri Mahalakshmi in Kolhapur, Shri Mumba Devi in Mumbai and Shri Khandoba in Jejuri, and thus, bringing all temples under the total control of the Government. Various assaults are being committed on Hindu temples such as utilising crores of rupees in temples which are already taken over, for social and governmental schemes, doing away with religious traditions and rituals, stopping regular worships, imposing ban on carrying religious material, infringing the sanctity of the temples, removing hereditary priests, usurping thousands of acres of temple land, disappearance of ornaments in temples, etc. However, the Government does not dare to touch the religious places of Muslims and Christians. No action is taken against those indulging in corruption in temples. To fight against this injustice, main Temple Trusts, priests, office bearers and religious institutions across Maharashtra are being united. Therefore, if the Government fails to stop the take-over of the Hindu temples, all temple trusts and Hindu organisations will take to streets and launch a State-wide public agitation, warned Shri. Sunil Ghanwat, Coordinator for Maharashtra of ‘Mandir And Dharmik Sanstha Mahasangh’ the Government in the sit-in agitation held today.
In the sit-in agitation organised at Yashwant Stadium’ in Nagpur, hereditary priest of Shri Mahalakshmi Temple in Kolhapur Shri. Gajanan Munishwar and Shri. Makarand Munishwar, Bhopi Pujari of Shri Tuljabhavani Temple in Tuljapur Shri. Amit Kadam, Upadhye Pujari Shri. Sarvottam Javale, Palidar Pujari Shri. Sandip Bagadi, Shri. Shriram Kulkarni of Shri Tekadi Ganesh Temple in Nagpur, Shri. Ambekar of Shri Hanuman Temple in Ajani (Nagpur) and Coordinator for Vidarbha of Hindu Janajgaruti Samiti Shri. Shrikant Pisolkar were present. On this occasion, various slogans such as ‘Down with the Government taking over only the Hindu Temples’ were raised. Earlier, several office-bearers of temples in Kolhapur, Tuljapur, Pandharpur, Akkalkot, Solapur, Ganapati Pule, Jejuri, Mandhar Devi were present in the meeting held in Pune. At that time, H. H. Swami Govind Dev Giri Maharaj had also warned the Government not to interfere in the temples.
The Government took over Hindu temples in the name of providing better management to them. However, several cases of corruption and mismanagement have come to light in case of temples taken over by the Government. In 3,067 temples under the control of ‘Pashchim Maharashtra Devasthan Vyavasthapan Samiti’, 7,000 acres of land out of 25,000 acres has disappeared, non-receipt of royalty worth crores of rupees from mining, the Government being unaware of who granted the permission for mining, audit was carried out after 35 years only after the agitation held by Samiti, etc. In Shri Tuljabhavani Temple, collective corruption of Rs. hundreds of crores in auction of donation boxes committed by higher officers and people’s representatives, suppression of report by the Revenue Department about illegal transfer of 265 acres of land, etc. In Shri Viththal Mandir in Pandharpur, sale of cows in the temple to the butchers, death of many cows due to consuming plastic despite provision of more than Rs. 40 lakhs for the animal fodder, not a single rupee earned as an income for years together from the 1,200 acres of land owned by the temple, no audit for more than Rs. 48 lakhs, loss of Rs. 47 lakhs due to mismanagement in the Bhakt Nivas taken on rent, not timely depositing an amount of lakhs of rupees in bank under the supervision of witnesses, but storing it in the gunny bags, etc. In Shri Siddhivinayak Temple, Trustees spending lavishly an amount of Rs. 24 lakhs in five-star hotels, illegal expenditure towards air-travel and boarding without the permission of the Government, causing loss worth lakhs of rupees to the temple by appointing excess employees than those stipulated by the Government, it is proved in the inquiry committee of retired Justice Vijay Tipnis that all-party leaders have illegally diverted crores of rupees of temple money for their own institutions, etc. In Shri Sai Baba Temple in Shirdi, the Trustees indulged in corruption of Rs. 66 lakhs by granting more than 10 times the rates for the material used for Kumbh Mela, etc.
In Civil Appeal no. 10620/2013, Subramanian Swamy Vs State of Tamil Nadu and others, a landmark judgment by the Supreme court has made it clear that the takeover of the administration of religious endowment by any State cannot be of a permanent enduring nature and should co-terminus to the temple administration with the removal of the consequences of mal-administration. Article 26(d) of Indian Constitution have provided right to every person to protect the “Rights of ‘denominational religious institutions’. Still, the Government is causing contempt of the Supreme Court and indulging in unconstitutional actions by taking over only Hindu temples. The Government should realise that the take-over of all temples done earlier will also be termed illegal due to above judgement, said Shri. Ghanwat.
