Hyderabad, July 13, 2013: To protest against the state government’s move to acquire the land of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Secunderabad for the metro rail project, the temple authorities called for a public meeting on Sunday evening.  The revenue department has recently served a notice on the Iskcon temple authorities for acquisition of their land.

“We are going to protest against demolition of the temple.  Our devotees are ready to lay down their lives for the cause,’’ Sahadeva Dasa, president of Iskcon, Hyderabad, said.

The temple’s land, measuring 4,800 square yards, was donated by one Jagannath. The temple started functioning from 1984. The revenue department has proposed to acquire 1,600 square yards of the temple land for metro rail.

Mahasaranga Dasa, chairman of Iskcon Temple Protection Committee(ITPC), said that the government had been suppressing the Hindu religion to pamper other religions. “Places of worship of other communities are never touched for any developmental work. Demolition of Iskcon, which is a place of worship, is a brazen attack on Hinduism and the sentiments of devotees,” he said and added “We will go to every village, district and conduct meetings on this injustice. We will even launch a nationwide agitation,” he warned.

Sahadeva Dasa said that some employees of the departments concerned had informed him that there were four alternatives were available to avert demolition of the temple. Thousands of devotees would attend Sunday’s public meeting, he said and called upon like-minded people to attend it.

Source: The New Indian Express, DT. July 13, 2013.