This petition is to all Hindus, People of India. Wake up now and take action.

Why should a secular government be interested only in Hindu temples? This is scandalous that after the takeover of temples as politicians and officials loot the temple’s wealth and land, and divert donations of devotees to non-religious purposes.

The government does not control nor interfere with Mosques, Churches, Gurudwaras, and other places of worship. Hindu community has been at a big loss as the earnings from the temples are not spent on poor Hindus. Instead, they are used for other religions called minorities. Notably, the Muslim population is no more a minority in India, and Churches are the largest owners of land after Govt in India. This is a clear case of discrimination.

There is an urgent need to create awareness and request the Govt of India to form Hindu trusts and handover temples to them. All the trustees should be Hindus. They should be given control. Give them control to take action for Hindu community welfare.

All the offerings to Hindu temples become the property of the state government NOT the temple. Typically all states in India have separate departments (one or multiple) endowments/devaswom/temple management boards. Huge amounts of money is taken by the government from temples in the name of administration. On the other side, many large temples have to maintain a fleet of luxury vehicles to be used by the VIPs. This does not serve any religious purpose nor even a secular purpose. There is no rationale as to why the government should control temples.

There are many well-known examples such as Mata Vaishnodevi shrine board, Tirupati Balaji shrine board, and Shirdi Sai baba shrine board that are under government undertaking. And the attempt by governments to take control of more and more temples is still on. Recently, the Maharashtra government took over the ‘Shani Temple’ with the excuse for better management. It seems the govt believes only Hindus & Jains are incapable (and not Christians, Muslims, Sikhs) of management of their places of worship. This happened even when the Supreme Court, in the 2014 Chidambaram case has held that the government cannot arbitrarily take over temples.

The Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowment Act of 1951 (HRCE) allows State Governments and politicians to take over thousands of Hindu Temples and maintain complete control over them and their properties. This provides state governments authority over Hindu temples for the ostensible purpose of streamlining their functioning. Then, there are State Government Acts such as Tamil Nadu HR&CE, A.P. Religious Institutions Act, etc and the government appoints officers and politicians on the board of ‘temple trusts’. This also includes the appointment of Chief Executives. Some of these officers do not even accept ‘Prasadam’. Such intolerant non-Hindus do not live the Hindu ethos and should not determine the temple activities.

Char Dham Devasthanam Management Act of 2019 passed by the BJP-ruled State Government in 2019 intends to take control of more than 50 temples related to the Char Dham circuit. This Act enables the Government to take control of the temples currently run by priests, local trusts and the new Act say MPs, MLAs, and representatives appointed by the State Government will run the temples.

Kings who constructed these temples did not claim any right over the temples. Even their own name, they left behind. Instead of controlling the temples, they gave lands, properties, and jewels to the temples. We will need the same attitude from the trust. Funds of the temples should be used for the administration of temples, their repairs, the salaries, the infrastructure, and facilities. Surplus money should be used to upkeep the old temples and for the welfare of the poor Hindus.

Temples are facing existential crises under state governments and this needs to be stopped now.

Please share this post, raise your voice and run campaigns on social media reach out to public leaders and representatives on social media.

References:

• Travancore Devaswom Board, Kerala to sell unused lamps, utensils in temples to overcome financial crisis

• Freeing temples from state control
• Hindu groups object to Maharashtra govt’s takeover of Shani temple in Shingnapur

• Faulty conservation work harming temples: Unesco report

• Uttarakhand to frame laws for regulation, management of Char Dhams

• Indian govt won’t be any different from British if Hindus can’t manage their own temples
• Hindu temples and use of their income