Author:
Publication: The Pioneer
Date: November 14, 2005
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad, waging a campaign to get the Hindu temples out of the clutches of the State Governments, has target the "Christian Chief Minister" of Andhra Pradesh.
The Akhila Bharatha Mutt Mandir Conference of Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Sunday warned that it would mount a massive campaign if the State Government does not release all the Hindu temples from its control and hand them over to the Hindu society. Speaking to mediapersons VHP's international president Ashok Singhal told mediapersons after the meet here that similar agitations will be organised in the other States, especially in the south India, as lakhs of temples in these States were under the control of the respective Governments.
He said the temples should be autonomous and they should be run by the independent dharmic councils. He alleged that the earnings of these temples and the land and other assets were of the temples were being used for the propagation of Christianity in the country.
In one of the three resolutions adopted, the conference demanded enactment of a legislation for the maintenance of the temple by the dharmic councils. "The conference notes with a sense of outrage and deep distress the manner in which the State Governments are increasingly bringing under their control temples and trust, which are places of veneration and worship of Hindu and are centres of their cultural identity," he said.
"Taking the temples away from the Hindu society is robbing it of its culture and dharma," he said. When asked why the VHP was focusing more on Andhra Pradesh than any other State, Mr Singhal said, "There is a Christian Chief Minister here and our country's control is in the hands of a foreign Christian woman. We are afraid that our temples are being misused for propagation of Christianity specially in Andhra Pradesh. They are active in the southern States."
He also pointed out that Tirupati Desthanam was the biggest Hindu temple in the country and the attention of entire country was focused on this temple. "I feel that the revenue of this temple is not being used for the Hindu cause to check the conversion. If these resources are used in accordance with the directions of the Hindu religious leaders and its budget is made by them, a large part of this will be used to check the spread of Christianity," he said.
Mr Singhal said that the revenue of the temples should be used to root out the Christian missionaries in the country, stop conversions and to bring back all the converted Christians in to the Hindu fold. "Not even one of them converted voluntarily. It was done only through coercion and by offering incentives," he said.
When asked whether he will make an attempt to bring even the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister back in to Hindu fold, Mr Singhal said that it was for the Chief Minister to reply why he became a Christian. "It was because he was a Christian that the Videshi Mahila (foreign woman) made him the Chief Minister," he said.