09-14-2005, 09:26 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Prime Minister, New Delhi     manmohan@sansad.nic.in
President of India           presidentofindia@rb.nic.in
CM, Tamil Nadu,            cmcell@tn.gov.in
Hon'ble Jayalalithaa
Shri L.K . Advani, BJPÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â advanilk@sansad.nic.in
BJP head office, New Delhi    bjpco@del3.vsnl.net.in
VHP, New Delhi             jaishriram@vsnl.in
Thanks
Krishan Bhatnagar
Hindu Jagran Forum (Maryland, USA)
September 14, 2005
============================================================
Open Letter to Hon'ble Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu
Subject:Â The Godless CPI demand for confiscating the Mutt Lands is anti- Hindu and anti-religious freedom ; To stop demolition of Hindu religious infrastructure urgent liberation of temples is needed.
Hon'ble Chief Minister Jayalalithaa,
The Godless CPI's demand for confiscating and distributing the Hindu Mutt endowment lands to the poor is outrageous, anti-Hindu, anti-secular and it deeply violates the religious sentiments of the majority Hindu community (attachment A). These lands donated by the devotees were historically meant for the purpose of use and sustenance of the religious places in perpetuity. The Govt. in its capacity as a "trustee" and not an "owner" has no power to alter that course. Doing so will be prejudicial to greatly sacred Hindu tradition and it will violate the "trusteeship covenant". That the irreligious CPI in a calculated strategy is focusing upon the temple lands in its national campaign shows its utter disregard towards the constitution, and the Hindus religious rights. The central purpose for unleashing this venomous strategy against the Hindus religious properties is to cultivate electoral dividends to be harvested during the forthcoming elections. On the broader side it once again opens up the question of illegal Govt. control of temples and Mutts in Tamil Nadu seriously violating the religious rights & sentiments of over 80% of the national population.
Madam Chief Minister, to extend Govt. jurisdiction exclusively upon Hindu places of worship and their estates while leaving similar entities of other religious formations outside the draconian control speaks volumes about the hypocrisy exercised by the administration. Isnât this exactly what the previous Christian and Muslim conquerors of India have tried for centuries? Furthermore, if distributing temple properties amongst the poor is a worthwhile and noble cause, by the same token Madam Chief Minister, how many church and mosque properties has your administration distributed amongst the poor? Or do they not subscribe to that philosophy and therefore, are out of bounds to such generosity?Â
It is a sad yet lawless story of unconstitutional usurpation of Hindu temples and their estates by the Govt. and becoming their self appointed trustee and then violating the trusteeship covenant by treating temples and estates thereof as discretionary leading to diversion of their resources for other than Hindu religious purposes. Since Hinduism, like other religions in India, is not a state controlled or managed religion therefore, it is far beyond its competence to divert temple revenues, change physical structures and/or sell/transfer their lands or estates for non- Hindu religious purposes.
By controlling Hindu temples and their estates the Govt. is depriving Hindus of their fundamental âReligious Rightsâ guaranteed under Articles 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution. According to Article 25 of the Constitution, all persons are equally entitled to the right to profess, practice and propagate religion. While Article 26, provides that every religious denomination "shall have the right (a) to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes; (b) to manage its own affairs in matters of religion; © to own acquire movable and immovable property; and, (d) to administer such property in accordance with law".
The Indian Parliament through an Act in 1991 legislated that ââthe status of religious places, as on August 15, 1947 shall be retained". The faithful implementation of this law itself will require the authorities to revert the control of places of worship of Hindus to the community governance.
The term "secular" was incorporated in the Constitution of India by the 42nd Amendment in 1976. A secular Govt. cannot legitimately be involved in the operation and management of religious places since secularism firmly stands for the separation of state and religion. With unjustifiable exception of Hindu religious entities this principle is held high in TN. In the case of Hindus the state Govt. has chosen to act above and beyond the limitations imposed upon it by the national constitution.
Our contention encompasses the legal and philosophical commitment of the secular Indian State - that the management and administration of the religious institutions, their estates and places of worship, must reside in the hands of the representative bodies of the believers. That being the ground rule how would Sikhs (Golden temple), Muslims (Jamal Mashed, Aimer Sharif) or Christian churches in India react to Govt. control of their places of worship? Such an intrusion by the government authority in otherwise an autonomous domain has a potential of generating a chain of serious consequences including the charges against the state itself for being a major instrument of dismantling Hinduism
It is simply disgraceful that the Indian Govt. should subsidize the "Hajj" pilgrimage of the Muslims to the tune of Rs. 200 crores annually and make special reservations for them on the basis of their religion, but on the other hand the TN authorities crusade to systematically destroy the self- supporting foundations and structures of Hindu places of worship using unlawful state control as a tool. Democratic and secular governments do not penalize or patronize religions. Such extra legal actions constitute a reverse discrimination against the religion of Indiaâs majority community.
The abundance of available evidence reveals that at the behest of the people in power a deliberate policy of radically altering Indiaâs cultural complexion is at works. This policy aims at de-Hinduisation of India by undermining the Hindu faith and spirit while using Govt. control as a tool for recklessly demolishing the Hindu religious infrastructure. This is indeed an assault on the founding and functional pillars of the national majority's religious heritage.
The doctrine of nationalization and state control of the places of religious worship and their estates cuts at the very roots of the fundamental principles of secularism which unambiguously dictates the separation of state and religion. Transferring such jurisdiction to an autonomous Hindu community Board would be democratically valid, legally sound and the most appropriate instrument of correcting this highly unjust situation. Such transference would simultaneously provide guidance and community governance to shrines and temples which in turn would satisfy any presumed or real public concerns. This age old practice is followed by other religious communities and denying that liberty to Hindus discriminatively is fundamentally wrong and legally groundless.
May we suggest that the representatives of shrines, temples, Hindu community and religious leaders from Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, etc. be motivated to convene an assembly where they could be asked to take charge of clearly defining the new legal framework for the community governance of temples and other religious places in the state. Such a framework should be developed in accordance with the religious needs and the wishes of devotees, donors, Acharyas and the community, who have supported these institutions since ancient times.
This approach among other things could make the Board a completely autonomous and representative body thereby responsible for the entire administration including planning, executing, auditing, guiding, investigating and taking corrective steps on any allegations and or complaints as and when needed. To begin this process the Govt. must restore the community participation, a democratic process, in oversight and decision making process of the endowments department to stop desecration and demolition of the religious infrastructure, pending denationalization.
Hon'ble CM Jayalalithaa, may we suggest that you exercise your leadership and a) declare your administrationâs policy of leaving the community ownership of temples and their estates intact; b) pass an urgent legislation to denationalize temples in the state thereby paving the way for creating a Hindu Board for looking after all religious and related affairs on par with the Wakf Board. Let it be noted without a shadow of doubt that the restoration of religious rights of Hindus cannot be summarily dismissed.
Hon'ble Chief Minister, at the conclusion let us once again emphasize that the denial of freedom to the majority in managing its places of religious worship and continuing intrusion and imposition of governmental dictates in an otherwise autonomous domain, will justify the charge against the Tamil Nadu administration of being anti- Hindu and anti- secular. Such charges will include demolishing the Hindu religious infrastructure and undermining the majority community by altering its traditional cultural identity with a view to de- Hinduise India. Therefore, considering the serious consequences hidden behind the CPI demand please stand firm against the Godless CPI's illegal, autocratic, inhuman, anti Hindu and anti- religious demand for confiscating and distributing the temple/ Mutt lands , and take speedy measures to set the Hindu temples and related infrastructure free from Govt. shackles.
With best wishes, and hoping for a favorable and a prompt response.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jagan Kaul                    September 14, 2005 Â
Krishan Bhatnagar Â
Hindu Jagran Forum (Maryland, USA)
email: krishan.kb@verizon.net
==================================================
  Attachment A
<b>Mutt land in Left glare</b>
The Telegraph, August 22, 2005
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Chennai, Aug. 21: The CPM in Tamil Nadu wants excess land in the hands of various religious mutts to be transferred to landless farm labourers.
The Land Ceiling Act should be amended to enable transfer of some 20 lakh acres of surplus land, being held by big landlords, corporate houses and mutts, to the landless labour, CPM state secretary N. Varadarajan said after a meeting of the partyâs state executive.
Opposing the Jayalalithaa governmentâs move to lease out 50 lakh acres of wasteland to corporate houses as part of an initiative to develop it, Varadarajan said the land given to Dalits under British rule and subsequently encroached upon by upper castes should be handed back to the Dalits.
With the CPMâs central committee having identified land, food security and employment opportunities as the main themes for a nationwide campaign from mid-August to September-end, the land issue will be highlighted in Tamil Nadu.
The campaign will culminate in a picketing of state and central government offices on September 13, he said.
The Centre allocated Rs 60 crore this year for the food-for-work programme in four districts of Tamil Nadu, including the tsunami-hit Nagapattinam and Cuddalore district.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
President of India           presidentofindia@rb.nic.in
CM, Tamil Nadu,            cmcell@tn.gov.in
Hon'ble Jayalalithaa
Shri L.K . Advani, BJPÂ Â Â Â Â Â Â Â advanilk@sansad.nic.in
BJP head office, New Delhi    bjpco@del3.vsnl.net.in
VHP, New Delhi             jaishriram@vsnl.in
Thanks
Krishan Bhatnagar
Hindu Jagran Forum (Maryland, USA)
September 14, 2005
============================================================
Open Letter to Hon'ble Selvi J. Jayalalithaa, Chief Minister, Tamil Nadu
Subject:Â The Godless CPI demand for confiscating the Mutt Lands is anti- Hindu and anti-religious freedom ; To stop demolition of Hindu religious infrastructure urgent liberation of temples is needed.
Hon'ble Chief Minister Jayalalithaa,
The Godless CPI's demand for confiscating and distributing the Hindu Mutt endowment lands to the poor is outrageous, anti-Hindu, anti-secular and it deeply violates the religious sentiments of the majority Hindu community (attachment A). These lands donated by the devotees were historically meant for the purpose of use and sustenance of the religious places in perpetuity. The Govt. in its capacity as a "trustee" and not an "owner" has no power to alter that course. Doing so will be prejudicial to greatly sacred Hindu tradition and it will violate the "trusteeship covenant". That the irreligious CPI in a calculated strategy is focusing upon the temple lands in its national campaign shows its utter disregard towards the constitution, and the Hindus religious rights. The central purpose for unleashing this venomous strategy against the Hindus religious properties is to cultivate electoral dividends to be harvested during the forthcoming elections. On the broader side it once again opens up the question of illegal Govt. control of temples and Mutts in Tamil Nadu seriously violating the religious rights & sentiments of over 80% of the national population.
Madam Chief Minister, to extend Govt. jurisdiction exclusively upon Hindu places of worship and their estates while leaving similar entities of other religious formations outside the draconian control speaks volumes about the hypocrisy exercised by the administration. Isnât this exactly what the previous Christian and Muslim conquerors of India have tried for centuries? Furthermore, if distributing temple properties amongst the poor is a worthwhile and noble cause, by the same token Madam Chief Minister, how many church and mosque properties has your administration distributed amongst the poor? Or do they not subscribe to that philosophy and therefore, are out of bounds to such generosity?Â
It is a sad yet lawless story of unconstitutional usurpation of Hindu temples and their estates by the Govt. and becoming their self appointed trustee and then violating the trusteeship covenant by treating temples and estates thereof as discretionary leading to diversion of their resources for other than Hindu religious purposes. Since Hinduism, like other religions in India, is not a state controlled or managed religion therefore, it is far beyond its competence to divert temple revenues, change physical structures and/or sell/transfer their lands or estates for non- Hindu religious purposes.
By controlling Hindu temples and their estates the Govt. is depriving Hindus of their fundamental âReligious Rightsâ guaranteed under Articles 25 and 26 of the Indian Constitution. According to Article 25 of the Constitution, all persons are equally entitled to the right to profess, practice and propagate religion. While Article 26, provides that every religious denomination "shall have the right (a) to establish and maintain institutions for religious and charitable purposes; (b) to manage its own affairs in matters of religion; © to own acquire movable and immovable property; and, (d) to administer such property in accordance with law".
The Indian Parliament through an Act in 1991 legislated that ââthe status of religious places, as on August 15, 1947 shall be retained". The faithful implementation of this law itself will require the authorities to revert the control of places of worship of Hindus to the community governance.
The term "secular" was incorporated in the Constitution of India by the 42nd Amendment in 1976. A secular Govt. cannot legitimately be involved in the operation and management of religious places since secularism firmly stands for the separation of state and religion. With unjustifiable exception of Hindu religious entities this principle is held high in TN. In the case of Hindus the state Govt. has chosen to act above and beyond the limitations imposed upon it by the national constitution.
Our contention encompasses the legal and philosophical commitment of the secular Indian State - that the management and administration of the religious institutions, their estates and places of worship, must reside in the hands of the representative bodies of the believers. That being the ground rule how would Sikhs (Golden temple), Muslims (Jamal Mashed, Aimer Sharif) or Christian churches in India react to Govt. control of their places of worship? Such an intrusion by the government authority in otherwise an autonomous domain has a potential of generating a chain of serious consequences including the charges against the state itself for being a major instrument of dismantling Hinduism
It is simply disgraceful that the Indian Govt. should subsidize the "Hajj" pilgrimage of the Muslims to the tune of Rs. 200 crores annually and make special reservations for them on the basis of their religion, but on the other hand the TN authorities crusade to systematically destroy the self- supporting foundations and structures of Hindu places of worship using unlawful state control as a tool. Democratic and secular governments do not penalize or patronize religions. Such extra legal actions constitute a reverse discrimination against the religion of Indiaâs majority community.
The abundance of available evidence reveals that at the behest of the people in power a deliberate policy of radically altering Indiaâs cultural complexion is at works. This policy aims at de-Hinduisation of India by undermining the Hindu faith and spirit while using Govt. control as a tool for recklessly demolishing the Hindu religious infrastructure. This is indeed an assault on the founding and functional pillars of the national majority's religious heritage.
The doctrine of nationalization and state control of the places of religious worship and their estates cuts at the very roots of the fundamental principles of secularism which unambiguously dictates the separation of state and religion. Transferring such jurisdiction to an autonomous Hindu community Board would be democratically valid, legally sound and the most appropriate instrument of correcting this highly unjust situation. Such transference would simultaneously provide guidance and community governance to shrines and temples which in turn would satisfy any presumed or real public concerns. This age old practice is followed by other religious communities and denying that liberty to Hindus discriminatively is fundamentally wrong and legally groundless.
May we suggest that the representatives of shrines, temples, Hindu community and religious leaders from Hindu Dharma Acharya Sabha, etc. be motivated to convene an assembly where they could be asked to take charge of clearly defining the new legal framework for the community governance of temples and other religious places in the state. Such a framework should be developed in accordance with the religious needs and the wishes of devotees, donors, Acharyas and the community, who have supported these institutions since ancient times.
This approach among other things could make the Board a completely autonomous and representative body thereby responsible for the entire administration including planning, executing, auditing, guiding, investigating and taking corrective steps on any allegations and or complaints as and when needed. To begin this process the Govt. must restore the community participation, a democratic process, in oversight and decision making process of the endowments department to stop desecration and demolition of the religious infrastructure, pending denationalization.
Hon'ble CM Jayalalithaa, may we suggest that you exercise your leadership and a) declare your administrationâs policy of leaving the community ownership of temples and their estates intact; b) pass an urgent legislation to denationalize temples in the state thereby paving the way for creating a Hindu Board for looking after all religious and related affairs on par with the Wakf Board. Let it be noted without a shadow of doubt that the restoration of religious rights of Hindus cannot be summarily dismissed.
Hon'ble Chief Minister, at the conclusion let us once again emphasize that the denial of freedom to the majority in managing its places of religious worship and continuing intrusion and imposition of governmental dictates in an otherwise autonomous domain, will justify the charge against the Tamil Nadu administration of being anti- Hindu and anti- secular. Such charges will include demolishing the Hindu religious infrastructure and undermining the majority community by altering its traditional cultural identity with a view to de- Hinduise India. Therefore, considering the serious consequences hidden behind the CPI demand please stand firm against the Godless CPI's illegal, autocratic, inhuman, anti Hindu and anti- religious demand for confiscating and distributing the temple/ Mutt lands , and take speedy measures to set the Hindu temples and related infrastructure free from Govt. shackles.
With best wishes, and hoping for a favorable and a prompt response.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jagan Kaul                    September 14, 2005 Â
Krishan Bhatnagar Â
Hindu Jagran Forum (Maryland, USA)
email: krishan.kb@verizon.net
==================================================
  Attachment A
<b>Mutt land in Left glare</b>
The Telegraph, August 22, 2005
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
Chennai, Aug. 21: The CPM in Tamil Nadu wants excess land in the hands of various religious mutts to be transferred to landless farm labourers.
The Land Ceiling Act should be amended to enable transfer of some 20 lakh acres of surplus land, being held by big landlords, corporate houses and mutts, to the landless labour, CPM state secretary N. Varadarajan said after a meeting of the partyâs state executive.
Opposing the Jayalalithaa governmentâs move to lease out 50 lakh acres of wasteland to corporate houses as part of an initiative to develop it, Varadarajan said the land given to Dalits under British rule and subsequently encroached upon by upper castes should be handed back to the Dalits.
With the CPMâs central committee having identified land, food security and employment opportunities as the main themes for a nationwide campaign from mid-August to September-end, the land issue will be highlighted in Tamil Nadu.
The campaign will culminate in a picketing of state and central government offices on September 13, he said.
The Centre allocated Rs 60 crore this year for the food-for-work programme in four districts of Tamil Nadu, including the tsunami-hit Nagapattinam and Cuddalore district.
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