Hindu temples should be freed from govt control, says historian Vikram Sampath
Historian Vikram Sampath with lawyer Vishnu Jain (Image credit X @vikramsampath
By Our Special Correspondent
New Delhi, February 28: Historian Vikram Sampath has said that there is a case of an unequal treatment of religious places in the country while India is secular. Sampath, whose book ‘Waiting for Shiva; Unearthing the Truth of Kashi’s Gyan Vapi’ will soon be launched, said that the Hindu temples are being controlled by the governments across the country and their incomes are being spent on non-Hindu religious purposes.
Sampath argued that while the Muslims and the Christians run the affairs of mosques and churches respectively, it is the government which control the management of temples. Sampath also highlighted the Karnataka Budget this year where he stated that the “state government imposed 10 per cent tax of incomes of Hindu temples, while the state made provisions for mosques and churches from the taxpayers’ money”.
Sampath said: “The governments should free all temples from their control. The Hindu community should have the freedom to manage the affairs of the temples independently.”
Giving details in his book, Sampath writes: “…the biggest irony is that the secular sate has no qualms in controlling only the Hindu temples. Governments in just 10 states control more than 1,10,000 Hindu temples, with the Tamil Nadu Temple Trusts itself owning 4,78,000 acres of temple land and controlling 36,425 temples and 56 mutts.”
The noted historian, who has also authored biography of VD Savarkar, also stated that “there are more than 30,000 Hindu temples under the control of Tamil Nadu government alone”. He argued that the revenue of the temples are being spent for development of infrastructure. Sampath lamented that the temples despite earning enough revenues are not able to create facilities for teaching the customs and traditions of the Hindu religion.
Sampath said: “The Churches and Mosques run own institutions to further propagate their religions from their incomes. But temples cannot even adequately pay to the priests because their earnings are diverted by the governments for non-Hindu religious purposes such as building infrastructure.”
He also stated that Hindus cannot become members of the trust or the bodies which run the affairs of churches and mosques but it’s not a case for the boards where even non-Hindus can become their members. Sampath argued that it’s time that the Hindu temples be freed from the control of the governments in the country. Sampath said that the true feature of a secular nation would be in equal treatment of all religions, and not unfairly usurping the resources of the Hindu temples.
Sampath also lamented that diversion of the temple money by the governments has led to a state where the facilities for the pilgrims remain neglected.
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