Not content with controlling 50,000 Hindu temples in Karnataka which come under the Muzrai or the Religious Affairs Department, the Congress Government in Karnataka now also wants that non-Hindu Government officers should be allowed to preside over temple festivities. The day is not far when Congress will demand that temple festivities be ‘adapted’ so as not to upset the religious beliefs of such presiding non-Hindu officers.  Of course, this gross violation of article 26 of our Constitution providing people of all religions with the freedom to manage their religious institutions is not a topic of interest for our allegedly liberal intelligentsia & national media.

As per this news report, Congress High Command ruthlessly dismissed protests from opposition BJP and even their own Hindu MLA, to plan repeal of an existing law…all in the name of ‘secularism’ –

“Karnataka government on Wednesday is set to repeal certain sections of the Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 1997.

The Karnataka government said that this move would be taken in order to uphold the secular nature of the Constitution.

The government’s decision comes after controversy in Puttur over printing the name of Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim on the invitation card for this year’s car festival at the Lord Mahalingeshwara temple in the locality.

With this amendment, there would be a legal backing to the IAS officer to preside over the temple festival in his official capacity. Puttur MLA Shakuntala Shetty of the Congress had called a press meet at Puttur saying printing the name of the DC had given rise to discordant notes. As per provisions of the Hindu Religious Endowments Act, names of non-Hindus could not be printed in temple invitations, she had said.

‘The Hindu’ newspaper doing what it does best

This report in ‘The Hindu’ paper throws more light on the debate in the Karnataka Assembly –

“Raising the issue during the zero hour, Sunil Kumar (BJP) demanded that the government withdraw the invitation in the name of Mr. Ibrahim, as demanded by the Vishwa Hindu Parishad, and reprint it by removing his name.

He argued that the Act (section 7) stated that “the Commissioner and every Deputy Commissioner or Assistant Commissioner and every other officer or servant, appointed to carry out the purpose of this Act by whomsoever appointed, shall be a person professing Hindu religion, and shall cease to hold office as such when he ceases to profess that religion”.

Of course, the same report in the incongruously named ‘The Hindu’ paper (incongruous as this left-leaning Chennai based news paper represents anything but the viewpoint or welfare of the Hindu community), goes on to paint the issue as a ‘controversy’ that was amicably resolved by the Government deciding to amend a ‘bad law’ –

“The issue rocked the House for sometime and even Mr. Thimmappa expressed his displeasure by saying, “The present law is against the spirit of the Constitution and fraught with dangerous consequences.” He also vented his ire at the government by questioning, “Is it not possible to amend such a bad law in a day. Bring an amendment to the Act within 24 hours”.

The arguments ended only after Mr. Jayachandra assured the members that the Act would be amended to remove barriers of religion in conducting annual festivals of temples.”

Lo and behold – genuine angst in Hindus at being denied the basic dignity of having one of their own preside over a temple festival is thus white-washed….the reader is left thinking that all this was just a needless controversy created by right-wing groups (dog-whistle nomenclature for ‘abominable trishul-wielding, tilak sporting ogres from VHP, RSS etc’) . And the final solution – amend the law so that barriers of religion in conducting annual festivals of temples are removed! Yes, opposing involvement of those professing Abrahamic religions, wherein Hindus are categorically termed as hell bound unbelievers, from Hindu rituals is creating a ‘barrier of religion’! Goebbels would be proud of such subterfuge! All this while maintaining a strategic silence on question of Hindus being involved in managing Muslim wakf boards or Christian Churches.

Free Hindu Temples – End State Discrimination against Hindus of Bharat

This Swarajya piece says it all –

“One of the great ironies of Indian secularism is that a vocally secular government sees no contradiction in managing Hindu temples, and only Hindu temples. This despite article 26 of the Indian Constitution providing people of all religions with the freedom to manage their religious institutions. Several state-level Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Acts have allowed states to assume financial and management control of over a hundred thousand Hindu temples, including magnificent ancient temples of immense religious significance. These HR&CE departments are headed by a cabinet minister or by ostensibly autonomous, but government appointed, boards which includes both politicians, and non-Hindus.

Such laws are generally justified under Article 25(2)(a) of the Indian constitution, which empowers the state to make law “regulating or restricting any economic, financial, political or other secular activity which may be associated with religious practice.”  However, in practice, this is only applied to Hindu temples. A comparison of the legal rights of various religions in India today is shown in the table below. Such institutionalized discrimination against an ostensible 80% majority community is without parallel anywhere in the world. Some Hindu sampradayas such as the Ramakrishna Math & Mission have even tried to claim“minority” status and obtain protection from government interference.

The legal subversion of Hindu society gathered real pace under Sonia-led UPA 1 & 2  – the 93rd amendment and discriminatory acts like RTE were introduced, missionary mafia was given free run and state patronage in Andhra Pradesh under CM Y Samuel Reddy; Sonia’s hand-picked men like CM Siddaramaiah are continuing that same legacy. Will the Central Government intervene?