DMK's and AP Target - Hindu Temples

[Husky]

http://bharatabharati.wordpress.com/2011...-r-ramesh/



At least should read the section What Hindus should know at the above link. It starts with:

HR & CE Dept. officials carry out of a lot of illegal activities in temples and other religious institutions. Most of their orders replacing Trustees or interfering in temple matters are without jurisdiction or in abuse of it. The general impression of Hindu devotees is that these officials have the power under law to do such acts. Nothing can be farther from truth. Every Hindu Devotee should be aware of the following facts:

More excerpts:

HR & CE: Rogue department of the Government of Tamil Nadu – T. R. Ramesh

Posted on August 1, 2011 by IS

Hindus should question any attempt to takeover temples in their respective areas by HR & CE Department. They should remember that HR & CE officials have no right to takeover temples that are run by devoted trustees. HR & CE Dept. is only a supervisory department even for temples under its administration, and cannot decide matters pertaining to rituals and religion. – T.R. Ramesh

[...]



Huge corruption money flowing out of such transactions is the main reason Government does not want to give up its hold on Hindu Temples and institutions. Highly inflated project costs are another way by which HR & CE officials loot temple moneys. For example, Podu Dikshitars of Chidambaram had dismantled the Paniya Nayagam temple dedicated to Lord Subramanya, within the Chidambaram temple precincts, as the roof and pillars were bound to cave in due to loose soil in the basement. This was done as per advice of engineers and stapathis; a new construction plan drawn at a cost of Rs. 90 lakhs and work begun. The Executive Officer after assuming office in the Chidambaram temple stopped the sponsors from continuing the work. He has now given a proposal for the same work at a cost of Rs. 10 crores!



A luxury Toyota car was bought for Sri Maasaniamman Temple near Pollachi at a cost of Rs. 11.5 lakhs. The first question that comes to mind is why a luxury car is required for a temple. It has come out in newspapers and through RTI queries that this car was used for private purposes of the HR &CE Secretary in the Tamil Nadu government. It is also now known that the monthly petrol bills of this corrupt official were taken from Temple funds.



Funds accumulated in fixed deposits in the accounts of rich temples would suddenly be transferred for flood relief, tsunami or Chief Minister’s relief fund. Funds were repeatedly taken from Tiruverkadu Mariamman temple to conduct free marriages by the Tamil Nadu government. This temple which had huge deposits of money became almost bankrupt.



Temple Jewels

Since the HR & CE stopped having external audit from 1985, it is almost impossible to gauge how many antique and valuable temple jewels have been looted. There is widespread belief that valuable diamonds and stones in jewels have been removed and replaced by ordinary stones in many temples. Missing Maragatha lingams worth thousands of crores have not been recovered. Jewels from 215 temples have been stolen and this rogue department does not even reveal the actual value of the jewels stolen. In many cases the loss of jewels is not known to the outside world at all.



On 22 December 2010, devotees discovered that about 156 globes made of gold and 108 globes made of silver, in the palanquins of the God and Goddess in the Perur Temple, were missing. This came to light only when the Golden and Silver palanquins were taken out in procession.



Temple Icons

More than 400 antique metal icons have been stolen from temples under the administration of the HR&CE department, which has not taken any credible follow-up actions to recover the valuables. Instead of installing closed-circuit cameras, burglar alarms and modern safety locks, the Department keeps many icons belonging to various temples at one safe room in a big temple. These icons are thus deprived of poojas and maintenance. Continuous neglect of these icons can result in irreparable damage. Further, these sacred icons were meant for worship and this Department willfully ignores this primary purpose. While millions are wasted and looted by Dept. officials no care is taken to protect these treasures.



Festivals, etc

Another crime commonly perpetrated by the department officials is soliciting sponsors to celebrate festivals even for temples that have sufficient and surplus income. Two things are achieved in this manner. One, the unscrupulous officials are not called upon to show the incomes realized from specific endowments meant for such festivals. Soon the endowments or their existence would be soon forgotten and those properties can be sold or leased out for a pittance. Two, bribes can be taken from competing sponsors or accounts can be easily fudged when there are multiple sponsors.



Kapaleeshwar temple in Mylapore has many income generating properties. Still, the Department takes more than 80% of the money required for the Arupathi Moovar festival from sponsors who are given undue positions of importance during festivals ignoring devotees whose families and communities have contributed for generations.



Prasadam Stalls

Prasadam stalls are amongst the biggest frauds openly committed by this rogue Department. Only food prepared piously in the temple kitchen and offered to the deities in the temple in traditional manner can be termed as prasadam. However, Prasadam Stalls are auctioned by the Department (needless to say many improprieties are committed in these auctions and allotments) to the public and supposedly the stalls are allotted to the highest bidder. This means the Department openly allows third parties to produce food items to be manufactured outside the temple premises and packages them to be sold at temples. This is an act which is at once blasphemous and anti-religious besides being a huge fraud on devotees visiting the temple.



Besides, prasadam shops and stalls, other shops and commercial activities are permitted by the Department. These acts of the Department are detrimental to the serene atmosphere that needs to be maintained in temples and commercialises Hindu religious institutions.



Hundies

Hundies serve the Department in two ways. One, they generate income which the Department fails to realize from the properties of the temple it is administering. Two, they are the easiest source of income that can be looted. In most temples, the real amount generated by hundials is never accounted for. The only exception to this story is the tale of the Hundies illegally installed in Chidambaram Shri Sabhanayagar temple. At Chidambaram the Department is trying to prove a point by showing a big collection of hundie monies. In the first place, the Hon’ble Division Bench of Madras High Court in 1951 had clearly ruled that the Podu Dikshitars are justified in not having any Hundie in the temple and further stated installing Hundies and introducing archana tickets commercialises the temple.



But after assuming office in the Chidambaram Temple, the Executive Officer came with a posse of policemen and installed Hundies in the temple that never had Hundies in its entire history. This is against the law, temple tradition, and in contempt of the Hon’ble High Court of Madras.



After installing Hundies, the Department did two things to ensure it is able to show good collection in the Hundies. It did not handover the second key of the Hundies to the Trustees and they do not seal the Hundies each time after they open it for counting. When it was pointed out the Podu Dikshitars’ collection in gold and other valuables far exceed the Hundie collections even today, and the public have not contributed a single gram of gold to the Executive Officer like they do to the real owners of the temple, the Podu Dikshitars, about 4 gms of gold suddenly appeared among the hundie collections!



What Hindus should do

Hindus should question any attempt to takeover temples in their respective areas by HR & CE Department. They should remember that HR & CE officials have no right to takeover temples that are run by devoted trustees. HR & CE Dept. is only a supervisory department even for temples under its administration, and cannot decide matters pertaining to rituals and religion.



Devotees should ask HR & CE Dept. pertinent questions regarding the temple properties, the income realized, in whose presence Hundies are opened, what are the procedures followed in making and distribution of prasadams, salary arrears of temple employees, income arrears for the properties, why Executive Officer was appointed for each temple, for what period the appointment has been made, order copies of the appointments, arrears of income pending from temple properties, action taken by the Executive Officer, the festivals celebrated in the temple regularly 25 years ago, festivals celebrated now, vehicles bought for the temple, who uses the vehicles and for what purposes, etc. under the Right to Information Act.



Hindus should remember that it is not the duty of a secular government to manage the affairs of Hindu Temples or institutions. They should also remember that the same Government keeps away from mosques and churches.



Hindus should join together and petition the Government and the Courts to bring back outside agencies to audit the HR & CE Dept.



Hindus should take legal action against the Government to restore the temples back to the Trustees or to appropriate Hindu associations. – Vijayvaani, 27 July 2011



» T.R. Ramesh is a banking professional and research scholar on Hindu religious affairs

And as already in some news piece seen before, even christians "miraculously" get appointed to head HR&CE type operations in Hindus' Kovils.

Don't know what leaps of logic made you give out the above statement which somehow turned it into an issue of Tamils vs non-Tamils.

What? What?

And I was referring to Tamizh Hindus Kovils not "Tamizhs".

First what do "non-Tamizhs" have to do with the viewpoint of one person named Balbir Punj?

Second Balbir Punj's stupid suggestion was for the Padmanabhaswamy kovil which is in Kerala not Tamilnadu.

(Why mention recent geography? Don't you know the history of that temple? It's both an ancestral Kovil of many Malayalees and Tamizhs, kuladevas to both. Of course, it's also a kShetra of pilgrimage to all ethnic Hindus of the subcontinent.)



No one else corrected him. In this case silence will be construed as acquiescence. (You are only the first person to say it was a stupid suggestion. But not until now, though.)



But the point made at the stage was not even about that particular Kovil anymore: it was that Balbir Punj (and any others like him who want to turn any Hindu Kovils into tourist centres) - no one criticised him, I note - can try arguing for such unforgivable things in their own locality (i.e. about the temples of their own kuladevas), I'm sure they'll soon be disinvited by the locals. But they have even less right to sell off Kovils elsewhere.* But as I'm hardly allowed allowed to issue uninvites to Kovils shared with Malayalees or all Kovils India-wide, I can at least do so for my own ancestral Kovils. (Note reference to gangreen.)



You really should stop going on and on about "North Indian" vs "South Indian" - like I care - and "Tamizh" vs "Non-Tamizh" as if I would ever make these arguments generally.

And, as I recall, I spent an inordinate amount of my free time doing (obviously futile) stuff for the poor Kashmiri Hindus protecting their=my Amarnatha. And I've never even been there. (But did you see me threatening to turn that Kovil into a "tourist" attraction? As if I would ever. And I don't remember anyone else harping on the threat to Pashupatinatha Kovil on IF. I've never been there either... Clearly - and you *know* all that - I don't really distinguish between the Nepali, the Kashmiri and Tamizh Hindus, so the obvious conclusion is that the form of my argument meant something else.)





* About this, though:

Not sell off Kovils elsewhere.

This happens all too frequently these days. In quite a stunning contrast - for me - to my abiding interest in Pashupatinath and Amarnatha, I have on several occasions now read Indians (not at all anti-Hindus) from various places of Bharatam - including Hindus who didn't know better - ready to donate away every famous ancestral Hindu Kovil of Tamizh regions (but not only of Tamizh regions) to "Buddhism and Jainism" based on mere claims by self-appointed spokespersons for B&J. (And I'm hereby not at all referring to the Shabarimalai Kovil housing the kuladevam of many Malayalees and Tamizhs - since my comments on that were on claims further advanced by Hindus, a.o.t. B/J claims that Hindus acquiesced/applauded to.)

The aforementioned Indians showed how they didn't know anything about the history of those temples, who built it or for what purposes (they were built by Hindus for Hindu purposes - the history of the Temples and Moortis in question is known at least to those of the locality), and yet after 1 article - of very dubious sources - staking a claim on Hindu Kovils too far away from the general readers' ken for them to be bothered investigating, they are quite willing to undermine the Temples' actual Hinduness off-hand for the suddenly "equal possibility" of said Kovils - obviously unknown to them - being "Buddhist (or Jain)".



I look forward to the day when Hindus - including you - will lecture *those Indians/Hindus* for readily giving away Hindu Kovils they know nothing of to opportunists. Instead of interrogating me on oh what was it now... "north injuns south injuns". (Yeah right, I never even cared about stories of "oryans" and "dravoodyans" - I'm sure I had made that much obvious too.*)



And it wasn't only Hindu temples of the Tamizh region that was claimed for other Indic religions. Other ancestrally Hindu Tamizh things/persons have been claimed also. But all of this has gone ever uncommented by the very Hindus frequenting such sites.

Amazing.





* But I forgot, you essentially told me I have no real right to ridicule the concept of "oryans and dravoodians".



Kids these days and their arguments. Hold Rwanda up as a parallel of the AIT, and they will tell you to be quiet. When next Rajiv Malhotra or whoever else brings up the same - many years later - they're all worshipful gods.

Ironically, there are many other - IMO quite nasty - parallels to the AIT elsewhere. But I - silently of course, I promise - await the day/month/year (vielleicht niemals?) when those Indians who are allowed to speak on the AIT find these. I'm not holding my breath.