Author: Vaidehi Nathan
Publication: Organiser
Date: November 21, 2004
URL: http://www.organiser.org/dynamic/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=51&page=3
Introduction: Almost all the big
temples the commies are eyeing solely depend on their income to run
their day-to-day affair. In Andhra, Tirupati temple funds are taken
for development.
The comrades in Red are reinventing
Aurangzeb. In their wisdom, they are suggesting to the UPA government to
collect a cess from temples in India. Couched in the words 'places of worship',
they have cited Vaishno Devi, Tirupati, Golden Temple, Amritsar and such
shrines.
Of course, this is not the communists'
first attempt at dipping a finger in the pie. In Kerala, the temple management
boards have been in the hands of communists, Congress and even Muslim League
when they were in power.
But the suggestion that the temples
be taxed amounts to charging tax on the Hindus. This when Mulayam Singh
in UP has exempted all Wakf property from government scrutiny. The communists
have come up with this proposal in the blue-print they have prepared on
tax reforms, to help the government. It is to be presented to the Finance
Minister via the UPA Coordination Committee before the budget. It gives
out their split vision in anything concerning the ethos, faith and heritage
of the country. There is no difference between them and the marauder Ghazni,
who according to them invaded the Somnath temple 17 times for loot.
In an informal meeting with the
Finance Minister, Gurudas Dasgupta is said to have enticed the former with
the calculation that even a nominal cess would fetch the government a whopping
Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 crore annually. If indeed what he said is true, then
this money ought to be spent by the temples on renovating other temples
in the country which are in bad shape. Thousands of temples have been demolished
in Kashmir. Why should the government that lets looters and defaulters
go scot free steal the money offered as an expression of faith for augmenting
its income? For long, communists in Kerala used to say that temples should
be taken over for tapioca cultivation.
In the name of land reform and redistribution
of land, the communists have already taken away the land belonging to temples,
mutts and other religious institutions. The government contributes next
to nothing in maintaining the civic amenities and facilities at famous
temple-towns. Almost all the big temples that commies are eyeing solely
depend on their income to run their day-to-day affairs. In Andhra, Tirupati
temple funds are taken for development expense by the state government.
A government that is willing and
eager to enhance Haj subsidy and relax conditions for getting subsidies
has no business to charge cess from one section of the people, only because
they happen to be the majority community.
