Vellore, July 2, 2013: A gathering of devotees, sadhus and members of the Sri Jalakanteswarar Temple Protection Committee conducted a mass prayer at the Fort Temple on Monday and made a fervent appeal to Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to roll back the takeover of the temple by the HR&CE department.

Last week, following a court ruling, the department had brought the temple under its control. The assistant commissioner of the department here had taken charge as the fit person (Thakkar) for the administration of the temple. This was resisted by the Sri Jalakanteswarar Dharmastabhanam, a registered society that has been maintaining the temple for the past 30 years.

It may be recalled that the temple did not house the main deity for over 400 years and in 1981 the locals, sadhus and devotees reinstalled the deity. The temple was then maintained by the society on a contract agreement with the Archeological Survey of India, which took over the control of the fort and the temple way back in 1921.

Kasi Swamigal emphasised the significance of maintenance of the temple and urged the Chief Minister to reverse the takeover move. He also appealed to the district administration to take the views and sentiments of the locals to the State.

Lakshmipathy, a devotee who described the temple as one of its kind in the country, said the temple that was several centuries old should be exempted from government control as the locals and visitors were happy with the way the temple was being maintained. During the protest Vellaiappan, state secretary of the Hindu Munnani, had said the week-long agitation had received overwhelming response from the locals.

Over 10,000 telegrams, e-mails, fax messages have been sent to the chief minister by various associations in the city on June 27 protesting the takeover.

Also, lamps were lit in front of houses, black flags were hoisted and black badges worn the following day. About 15 teams of organised street meetings in all wards to create awareness on the issue.

A supporter said a large gathering of citizens would march to the Collectorate on Tuesday to submit a petition to the district collector urging him to take up the matter with the State government. Also, merchant associations in the city have announced a bandh on Tuesday.

Sources from the Jalakanteswarar Dharmastabhanam also claimed that a writ had been filed in the High Court on Monday against the temple takeover by HR&CE department.

Source: The New Indian Express, DT, July 2, 2013.