July 16, 2013: With different state governments increasingly taking over management of Hindu temples across the country, an aggrieved collective of Hindu institutions have resolved to adopt a more agitational approach to reclaim the temples.

According to Swami Dayananda Saraswati of the Dayananda Ashram in Rishikesh and his follower Swami Paramatmananda Saraswathi, who also represent the The Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha (HDAS), the takeover of temples on grounds of mismanagement is a blatant act of overreach by the government and denies the majority community its constitutional right to practise and propagate one’s faith and religion. 

Lawyers and former high court judges, including advocates Pinky Anand, Aman Lekhi, MN Krishnamani and former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana high court Rama Jois, came out in strong support of this stand at a symposium organised by the HDAS in the national capital on Sunday. 

Backing the argument made by Swami Dayanand, former chief justice of the Rajasthan high court VS Kokje said, “When the government cannot promulgate a law to interfere in the management of mosques and churches on grounds of weeding out corruption, then why is it that Hindu temples are free for their taking?” 

“In the garb of regulating secular practices, governments have also started controlling intertwined religious practices, which ends up violating Article 25 and 26 of the Constitution,” he added.

The symposium was held against the backdrop of state governments such as that of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh taking over several temples. The last takeover of the TN government was as recent as last month when its Hindu religious and charitable endowments department took over the administration of the Sri Jalakanteswarar Temple in Vellore. The TN government now reportedly controls over 30,000 temples. A writ petition was filed on this issue in the Supreme Court last year.

Source: DNA India, DT. July 16, 2013.