In the
last few years there have been thousands of people seeking Hindu temples to be
freed from govt control in various states. The issue of govt control is more
severe in some states which have temples that get lucrative income by way of
donations. Other than that, there is also regular cries for help for ancient
temples and their maintenance. There aren’t many religious structures that can
match the beauty of ancient Hindu temples with their intricate design,
architectural grandeur and astonishing geometry. Many on Social Media and
elsewhere have written tomes on these temples with stunning images and the need
to get them out of govt control and restore them to management by a Trust of
devotees. I don’t need to add to this vast resource that is already made
available by Hindus online.
These
demands for freeing temples from govt control had become shriller and more
widespread after Narendra Modi
became PM. This, because many BJP supporters believe that Modi is the “Hindu Hriday Samrat” that he was
nicknamed as when he was Gujarat CM. To tell you the blunt truth, neither ModiSarkar nor any other govt is
going to bother about freeing temples from govt control. There are reasons
for why ModiSarkar won’t act on this and there are quite a lot of hurdles too.
There is a big difference between Modi being in Gujarat and Modi being in
Delhi. Gujarat is dominated by Hindus. People are depending on Modi to act on
this because they are unable to dissect his behaviour and thinking on temples
and the pursuit of religion. Therefore, it is important that we understand
Modi’s behaviour in Gujarat in relation to temples and his religious pursuits.
Firstly,
you would have never seen Modi wearing saffron and running around temples and
meditating in caves in Gujarat. In the 12 years that he was CM of Gujarat, you
will find only few pics of Modi in a temple or praying. This is mostly when
there’s some function (like those of Swaminarayan)
or election campaign visits to the “Becharaji”
or Rajkot temples. And then he would have flagged off the annual Rath Yatra from the Jagannath temple a few times. That’s
just about it. Modi’s temple-run become more aggressive only during the pre and
post PM period from 2014 onward. Varanasi,
Kedarnath, TN temples, Guruvayoor and so on. In Gujarat,
temples are also great “businesses” for many Hindus. Take a good look at the
image below:
This is
bang at Subhash Chowk on Gurukul Road in Ahmedabad. This is the main road where
my residence is. At the crossroads of Subhash Chowk, someone put up a small,
really small, Hanuman temple 2-3 decades ago. The left image is the closest
replica of what the negligible temple looked like because I cannot produce that
image anymore but I have seen it for years. It was a small temple no more than 3 feet in height and 2 feet wide.
You would have seen such small temples in many gullies and corners or even in
households in India. On the right is what this “illegal” temple looks like
today. It occupies the entire footbath for nearly 70 feet, it has turned into
full-fledged temple with a small office, water tank and the whole works. The
whole thing is illegal, it obstructs traffic every day and creates a parking
disaster, particularly on Saturdays when devotees throng Hanuman temples all
across Gujarat. CM Modi demolished over 80 illegal or encroaching temples in
Gandhinagar in 2008 but missed this one because there was road construction
work going on here:
These 80
are actually only a part of the 312 temples around the Gandhinagar region that
were reportedly illegal. As the temple grows in size, even illegally, the Trust
or Party that runs it earns money in crores annually. Apart from hundreds of
such temples around Ahmedabad, there are dozens of prominent ones on the SG
Highway (Ahmedabad to Gandhinagar). There are replica temples of Vaishno Devi, Ambaji Mata and there is Iscon
too. All these are legal and devotees flock to them daily and weekends see
large crowds. In the last two decades, many residential societies in Gujarat
have a pre-built temple inside the society complex itself so that
“daily-temple-goers” need not go far and do their darshan just before they
leave for work.
There are
many prominent temples in Gujarat and it’s a religious-tourists paradise. Most of them are NOT under Govt control.
Which is why you will never hear such noises from Gujarat about govt control.
The famous Somnath temple is a Trust
headed by former CM Keshubhai Patel (Advani, Modi are managing trustees too), Palitana hills of temples are run by
Jain Trusts, Girnar hills temples
are run by Jain and Hindu Trusts. The only prominent and lucrative temple that
is under govt control is the famous Ambaji
temple at Ambaji. This is the most revered temple in Gujarat and most
lucrative only next to Somnath. However, all the major temples of Gujarat are
well-managed, well laid out for traffic, smooth flow of devotees and security
in the current state of affairs. Hindus in the rest of India complain about the
pittance that our priests and mahants are paid as salaries. But you will be
surprised how much Ambaji priests are paid and this is a figure from 2015:
I am
sure, currently the figure would hover around 60-70 lakhs though I have no
reference for it. Other than these temples, there are grand Swaminarayan temples all over Gujarat. Akshardham at Gandhinagar being the
most famous among them. These Swaminarayan temples are also managed by their
own Trusts. Members of Swaminarayan groups donate heavily each year. They have
their facilities for devotees all across the world. Their members can still get
a room at their swanky guest house at Vile
Parle, Mumbai (near the airport) for less than 1000/- with all meals and
facilities included. I have been there, that’s how I know. And their meals are
fit for a king with lots of ghee, sweets and endless supply of buttermilk. Like
Gurudwaras do, if you are a Swamiaryania, you can go anywhere in the world
where they are located and they will accommodate you, help you, take care of
your family if you run into any kind of problem.
The only
involvement of the Gujarat govt in temples (other than management of Ambaji
temple) is their service to devotees and tourists under an apex body called “Gujarat Pavitra Yatradham
Vikas Board”. This
board doesn’t manage any temples but provides all kinds of services for the
visitors like travel, accommodation, itinerary planning, dos and don’ts, health
precautions and the whole works. This is a great service that the Gujarat govt
site provides without being involved in any temple. Hindus in Gujarat don’t need govt for anything (other than the
usual public services). They can manage their lives and their temples very well
and have enough resources to do so. Therefore, CM Modi had to turn his attention
to those who do need govt support to maintain their religious or sacred
monuments. One such monument is the Sarkhej
Roza in Ahmedabad which is near the Juhapura
area (The biggest Muslim ghetto in India):
ModiSarkar
of Gujarat spent over 3 crores to renovate and restore the beauty of Sarkhej
Roza in addition to two other monuments of Muslim importance. For 5 years in
Gujarat ModiSarkar had organised annual music festivals at Sarkhej Roza.
Obviously, in awe of his chest-thumping Hindutva image, people outside Gujarat are not really aware of all this. However,
these Muslim monuments are important part of history and the money is well
spent and Modi deserves applause for it. Now that he is on his second term
in Delhi, much of the renovation news comes in the form of illumination of Humanyun’s tomb or Qutub Minar. These
are prominently in the news but there might be others too. And because of this
penchant for glorifying tombs of Mughal invaders Hindus keep asking questions
of Modi’s commitment on Hindu temples.
Modi’s
approach to temples is nothing to brag about. He visits a few temples, wears
all-saffron, does intense puja or cave-meditation which the cameras devotedly
relay. It thrills many Hindus but in reality,
means NOTHING. At best it might promote some temples as tourist
destinations or rally Hindu pride for votes. In October 2013 Modi made an
atrociously horrible statement out of sheer lack of presence of mind. In some
meeting he stated “Devalaya se pehle
shauchalaya”. This was a repeat of Congi Jairam Ramesh’s statement. I find
it revolting to hear such comparisons. Nobody asks govts to build temples. If
toilets are your priority and citizens too should make it so then it can be
said more honourably without having to link temples merely to “rhyme” it.
I slammed
him very severely for this statement and received a lot of abuses from the
“Bhakts” then. In a later post
I asked, if Sauchalayas are such a priority Modi could have well curtailed the extent of Sabarmati Riverfront because nobody was
demanding that riverfront. The riverfront is a great achievement but is typical
of politicians to spend on “beauty”
and then whine about lack of toilets. Modi never made that statement again
except in one conference after becoming PM where he joked how he was slammed
for making that statement. I am sure for all the chest he has; Modi would never
dare to say “Masjid se pehle Mutralaya”.
Even in these campaign type statements, it’s the Hindu temples that are
degraded.
This
first part is like a prologue and we will get further into understanding why ModiSarkar or no govt will ever free Hindu
temples from govt and never make any rules for mosques or churches. It is
an intriguing and complex mess that only Hindus can solve and not any govt.
To
be continued…
