Stalin Government of Tamil Nadu has no right to Interfere in the Hindu temple traditions – Advocate Sitaram Kalinga
‘In the history of India, kings and Maharajas did not run temples by taking their control but donated land and money for temples. At that time, the management of temples was looked after by devotees themselves; however, after the Independence of India, the ‘secular’ Governments, eyeing the wealth of the temples have misused their position and took over the possession of the temples to indulge in mismanagement. In fact, they have no right to take possession of Hindu temples and change their traditions. The appointment of priests in temples is done according to the Scriptures. The Government has no right to change that. Since 1972, many orders from the High and Supreme Court regarding temples in Tamil Nadu have been delivered in favour of Hindus. Therefore, if the Stalin Government decides to appoint non-Brahmin priests in Tamil Nadu, the decision will be challenged in the Court’, said Adv. Sitaram Kalinga, a lawyer in the Madras High Court. He was speaking in a special interaction on ‘Why does the Tamil Nadu government interfere in the temple tradition?’, organised by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti. The programme was viewed by 2,663 people on Samiti’s website Hindujagruti.org, YouTube and Twitter.
Mr. Arjun Sampath of Hindu Makkal Kutchi from Tamil Nadu said, “In Tamil Nadu, the church is run by Christians. There is also a Waqf Board for Muslim madarasas and mosques. The ‘secular’ Government of Tamil Nadu does not interfere in them. But this secular Government is looking after the management of Hindu temples. They have committed massive corruption in temples, and 47,000 acres of temple land has disappeared. More than 40,000 temples are under Government control here. This Government which does not believe in God or Dharma is anti-Hindu, and it is completely illegal for them to appoint non-Brahmin priests. By interfering in the temple traditions, the Stalin Government is destroying the temple culture. This is an attack on Hindu temples. The Government decision will be strongly opposed by the people of Tamil Nadu.
Karnataka State Spokesperson of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti Mr. Mohan Gowda said that decisions in the religious tradition should be taken by theologians, experts, Saints and Mahants, but the intervention of a secular Government is wrong. In 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that “running temples is not the job of a secular Government, but temples should be handed over to devotees”. According to this, the entire Hindu community including trustees, priests, Hindu organisations, advocates should unite to make these temples the centres of ‘Dharma-shikshan’ (Education on Dharma) by liberating more than 4 lakh temples across the country from the control of the Government. For this, everyone should participate in the ‘Rashtriya Mandir Raksha Abhiyan’ started by Hindu Janajagruti Samiti.
