1. Subject: Why is there an IAS Officer as Head of a Temple?
It's time we realize our culture is being wiped away!!!
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Why are we Hindus taking all this lying down. Why is there an IAS
officer as head of every temple. Can they dare go to a Masjid or a
church? Please see the article and decide for yourself.
Foreign writer opens our eyes
The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Act of 1951 allows State
Governments and politicians to take over thousands of Hindu Temples
and maintain complete control over them and their properties. It is
claimed that they can sell the temple assets and properties and use
the money in any way they choose.
A charge has been made not by any Temple authority, but by a foreign
writer, Stephen Knapp in a book (Crimes Against India and the Need to
Protect Ancient Vedic Tradition) published in the United States that
makes shocking reading.
Hundreds of temples in centuries past have been built in India by
devout rulers and the donations given to them by devotees have been
used for the benefit of the (other) people. If, presently, money
collected has ever been misused (and that word needs to be defined),
it is for the devotees to protest and not for any government to
interfere. This letter is what has been happening currently under an
intrusive law.
It would seem, for instance, that under a Temple Empowerment Act,
about 43,000 temples in Andhra Pradesh have come under government
control and only 18 per cent of the revenue of these temples have been
returned for temple purposes, the remaining 82 per cent being used for
purposes unstated.
Apparently even the world famous Tirumala Tirupati Temple has not
been spared. According to Knapp, the temple collects over Rs 1,300
crores every year and the State Government has not denied the charge
that as much as 85 per cent of this is transferred to the State
Exchequer, much of which goes to causes that are not connected with
the Hindu community. Was it for that reason that devotees make their
offering to the temples? Another charge that has been made is that the
Andhra Government has also allowed the demolition of at least ten
temples for the construction of a golf course. Imagine the outcry

2. writes Knapp, if ten mosques had been demolished.
It would seem that in Karanataka, Rs. 79 crores were collected from
about two lakh temples and from that, temples received Rs seven crores
for their maintenance, Muslim madrassahs and Haj subsidy were given Rs
59 crore and churches about Rs 13 crore. Very generous of the
government.
Because of this, Knapp writes, 25 per cent of the two lakh temples or
about 50,000 temples in Karnataka will be closed down for lack of
resources, and he adds: The only way the government can continue to do
this is because people have not stood up enough to stop it.
Knapp then refers to Kerala where, he says, funds from the Guruvayur
Temple are diverted to other government projects denying improvement
to 45 Hindu temples. Land belonging to the Ayyappa Temple , apparently
has been grabbed and Church encroaches are occupying huge areas of
forest land, running into thousands of acres, near Sabarimala.
A charge is made that the Communist state government of Kerala. wants
to pass an Ordinance to disband the Travancore & Cochin Autonomous
Devaswom Boards (TCDBs) and take over their limited independent
authority of 1,800 Hindu temples. If what the author says is true,
even the Maharashtra Government wants to take over some 450,000
temples in the state which would supply a huge amount of revenue to
correct the states bankrupt conditions
And to top it all, Knapp says that in Orissa, the state government
intends to sell over 70,000 acres of endowment lands from the
Jagannath Temple, the proceeds of which would solve a huge financial
crunch brought about by its own mismanagement of temple assets.
Says Knapp: Why such occurrences are so often not known is that the
Indian media, especially the English television and press, are often
anti-Hindu in their approach, and thus not inclined to give much
coverage, and certainly no sympathy, for anything that may affect the
Hindu community. Therefore, such government action that play against
the Hindu community go on without much or any attention attracted to
them.
Knapp obviously is on record. If the facts produced by him are
incorrect, it is up to the government to say so. It is quite possible
that some individuals might have set up temples to deal with lucrative
earnings. But that, surely, is none of the governments business?
Instead of taking over all earnings, the government surely can appoint
local committees to look into temple affairs so that the amount
discovered is fairly used for the public good?

3. Says Knapp: Nowhere in the free, democratic world are the religious
institutions managed, maligned and controlled by the government, thus
denying the religious freedom of the people of the country. But it is
happening in India . Government officials have taken control of Hindu
temples because they smell money in them, they recognise the
indifference of Hindus, they are aware of the unlimited patience and
tolerance of Hindus, they also know that it is not in the blood of
Hindus to go to the streets to demonstrate, destroy property,
threaten, loot, harm and kill
Many Hindus are sitting and watching the demise of their culture.
They need to express their views loud and clear Knapp obviously does
not know that should they do so, they would be damned as communalists.
But it is time some one asked the Government to lay down all the facts
on the table so that the public would know what is happening behind
its back. Robbing Peter to pay Paul is not secularism. And temples are
not for looting, under any name. One thought that Mohammad of Ghazni
has long been dead.
HARD REALITIES.........
Hinduism remains the most attacked and under siege of all the major
world religions. This is in spite of the fact that Hinduism is the most
tolerant, pluralistic and synthetic of the world's major religions.