The unabashed theocratic bullying in India: Behind the free temple movement (3/3)

First Blog (1/3)

Second Blog (2/3)

As I concluded in my previous part, privatisation of the temples is definitely a plausible option. There is a movement in India to free the Hindu Temples from the influence of the Government. I am completely in favour of this option albeit for a different reason. In this blog, I want to write about the movement, the reasons and my opinion.

The movement to free Hindu Temples from Government Control

This movement is to challenge the Hindu religious and charitable endowments (also called HR & CE). These government departments control the management of the Hindu Temples under their control. It all started with the Tamil Nadu HR & CE Act in 1959. Here are the arguments against these controls.

1. Hindu Temples are the only religious institutions which are under Government Control
2. The income from the temples goes to the government, thereby depriving the temple to get richer.
3. Hindu Temples pay more income tax than other religious institutions
4. Hindus are not allowed to manage their own religious affairs
5. Hindu Temples and their assets are allowed to be destroyed by HR & CE of different states
6. These regulations take away the constitutional rights of the Hindu groups to manage their own affairs.

There are plenty more but these are the main reasons. There are some factual errors in this but I want to highlight one of them. The constitution of India does give the state government rights to pass regulations like these as deemed appropriate. So, the acts themselves are not unconstitutional.

Why is this relevant?

This movement has been gaining momentum from the beginning of this decade. This has gained prominence with the Sabarimala case as the same people like J Sai Deepak are fighting for both. Their logic is simple. If they gain enough momentum towards this case, they can make it an election issue. If these acts are removed, then the Hindu temples will cease to be public assets. Therefore, the rules of the temple are similar to the rules of a private body.

1. They will not have the money power to run education institutions to push their agenda.
2. None of their rules can be termed discriminatory. They can prevent people from entering, from women to people of the Dalit communities.
3. This will drive towards their broader agenda to make India into a Hindu nation.

Why do I feel the government should not control temples?

I am a strong proponent of the separation of church(or temples) and state. If the state starts to involve itself in the management of religion, it soon has to take sides in religious wars. It also is obliged to protect the demise of these religions. Here are my reasons why I want the state out of the business of religion.

1. The state has a responsibility to government people according to the rule of the law and not on religion.
2. The civil code should be uniform and secular. For example, child marriages, dowry and polygamy should be prohibited irrespective of a religion.
3. All institutions (religious or otherwise) should pay their taxes. Religious institutions should not get charitable status.
4. The government should not give grants or aid for people to perform religious activities, from Amarnath Yatra to Hajj trips.
5. The government in a secular country has the responsibility to be neutral. It can’t take responsibility to build or destroy places of worship.
6. The government has a responsibility to keep education secular. Religious concepts can be taught in scripture classes but not science. Evolution cannot be an optional part of biology.
7. The constitution still has laws against discrimination which has to be deep.

In conclusion, I see this as a dangerous sign. The articles in magazines like Swarajya show how nuanced the arguments have gotten. Considering the history and breadth of beliefs and practices in Hinduism, one is bound to find contradictions in the scriptures. This has paved the way to the new fundamentalists who have come up with an approach which only be called death by a million nuanced cuts. This confusion results in people falling for their trap. The only way to expose their devious behaviour is by letting them take control and expose their vicious, cruel agenda. If you are a parent of a child, you need to be worried about these people. Here are the reasons.

1. Your child might be a homosexual. Imagine the plight of a homosexual in a society run by such people.
2. Your child might be growing in an increasingly polarised society where the caste system is controlling collaboration.
3. If you have a girl child, imagine her plight as she finds a partner in her life. She might be forced to live a life of mediocracy just for being a person of the female gender.

If anyone thinks, I am exaggerating I want to attach some proofs.

This message is extremely specific. It doesn’t say that any false complaint should be punished. If one has to be fair, they should also consider any perpetrator who has denied crime to actually get punished more. Further, the girl just complained. She didn’t provide the judgement.

 

This was another tweet by a Hindu Right winger on the impact caused by Section 498A which is the Dowry Act that criminalises dowry.

They want to spread fake medical research too.

These people are capable of defending anything under the name of religion. If you think they are good just because what they are saying now is in line with your beliefs, then think more they might be coming for you or your family next.

References

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140725073011-81657483-hindu-temples-and-use-of-their-income/
• https://medium.com/freeing-hindu-temples-from-govt-control/faq-everything-you-wanted-to-know-about-the-freeing-hindu-temples-from-govt-control-campaign-90787d7eff50
• https://medium.com/freeing-hindu-temples-from-govt-control/reclaiming-hindu-temples-from-govt-control-c9b9cf8bac45
• https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/freeing-temples-from-state-control/article5594132.ece
• https://www.quora.com/Why-are-the-Hindu-temples-in-India-controlled-by-the-government
• https://www.facebook.com/freehindutemples/
• https://swarajyamag.com/culture/why-we-need-to-free-hindu-temples-from-government-control
• https://swarajyamag.com/ideas/how-to-free-our-temples-from-government-control-plan-b
• http://www.freepressjournal.in/analysis/r-n-bhaskar-policy-watch-liberate-temples-from-government-control/756036
• https://swarajyamag.com/author/17880/swami-venkataraman
• https://swarajyamag.com/culture/ravana-tolerance-and-the-indian-left
• https://swarajyamag.com/culture/south-asia-scholars-the-hindu-debate-and-the-death-of-nuance-in-california