Make it Secular By Looting Churches and Mosques
Guruvayur is a temple which has an income of Rs 250 Crore.It has a fixed deposits worth Rs 1350 Crore.25,000 devotees come to darshan every day.Income from bhandaram,offerings,guest houses and elephants come to Rs 120 Cr,while it gets Rs 100 Cr from the fixed deposits.
Government had acquired 14,000 acres of temple land-but the annuity for it is a meagre Rs 13 lakhs.Hence it has been put on record that the temple income can be spent on;y for temple purposes.
But the government sponsored temple managing committee has given Rs 5 cr each to the government during the flood and now for covid spending.It is definitely illegal-the government is giving an annuity as compensation to a victim.
Exploiting such a victim is unethical.
It is illegal and unethical for more reasons:
1.The Guruvayur Sree Krishna temple has become a cash cow for pseudo secular governments ever since it was taken over by the Kerala state government in 1971.
2. In 1977 when the Kerala state government tried to take money from the temple for its housing scheme, the Kerala High Court prevented the govt from taking temple money and struck down many sections the act as it was found to be in violation of Article 26 of the constitution.
3. However in 1978, the Kerala State Government once again retained the administration of the temple by passing a new act called Guruvayur Devaswom Act of 1978.
4. Since then, time and again various governments have called upon the devaswom board to contribute towards development projects in the temple town – something which is never demanded from any non Hindu place of pilgrimage.
5. During the floods in 2018, the Guruvayur Devaswom was forced by its highly political administration committee to transfer 5 Cr to CM fund. Same has been repeated now for Corona relief.
6. The Guruvayur Devaswom Act of 1978 has no provision for such transfer of funds. But such blatant illegal loot of temple wealth seems to be a continuing process.
7. Such an illegal act is also justified by many because the state government pays 13 lakh rupees per annum as rent compensation for 14,000 acres of land taken over by the it from the temple.
8. As compensation for 14000 acres of land, the state government should be paying 25-30 crores to the temple every year, assuming that none of these lands are commercial/residential.
9. In reality the just compensation for these lands may run into several 100 crores since land use pattern is largely non-agricultural.
10. On the whole, while the government is not paying the temple it’s due,it is looting directly from the temple.
11. In the current situation, the Travancore Devaswom Board has been begging the government to provide financial assistance for the administration of thousand plus temples falling under its purview.
12. Many artists associated with temples are suffering due to this lockdown – being denied their source of livelihood. Instead of supporting these traditional temple servants and artists, the party in power is keen on looting the Guruvayur temple funds directly and indirectly.
13. Hindu interests are not even given cursory attention by the current administrators of Guruvayur Devaswom Board.
14. The cash in Guruvayur is not pseudo secular.It will become secular only if the government takes money from churches like Edathva, Manarkad, Parumala, Malaytoor and mosques like Kodungallur Cheraman Masjid, Mambram Puthan Palli, Kanjiramattam and Ponnani.
15. If Guruvayur is allowed to be looted no doubt Sree Padmanabha swamy Temple assets will get looted next.
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