Two proposed Acts great injustice to Hindus – HJS

Nagpur: A press conference was organized at Nagpur for explaining to the media about the details of two Acts viz. Eradication of Blind Faith and Taking over the management of temples and religious institutions in the State. Shri. Ramesh Shinde, the spokesperson of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS) for the State of Maharashtra said in the press conference that it is very unfortunate that in this State of Maharashtra known to be the land of saints, the Government is planning to bring in such Acts that will be great injustice to Hindus. Under pressure from a few atheist and so-called progressive pompousness, Govt’s move to bring such Acts is really a very perturbing and inopportune step. Representatives of different groups attending the conference have extended full support to HJS.

When police also accepts that crimes committed under the name of blind faith are negligible and the present laws are sufficient to book the culprits, where is the necessity to pass a new Act? Moreover, in the proposed Act, many important words like blind faith, black magic, heinous traditions, so-called magic, super-natural powers have not been properly defined. Therefore, there is confusion, which could lead to misuse of the Act. Clause 13 of the proposed Act has been termed to be against the religious rituals, customs and has been declared by many legal experts from High Court and Supreme Courts, to be against Hindu religion. These experts have opined that the clause is against the freedom conferred by Indian Constitution to follow any religion. It was declared by the Government that they are excluding 17 clauses of the old Bill as they were related to religion.

Shri. Shinde said that due to rising costs, corruption and malpractices, the Congress-led Government has emptied its coffers and is now readying itself to grab funds of devotees. With issue of just one letter, the Government can dissolve a trust; but the Govt. has granted special favors to Islamic institutions, mosques, durgahs and madarassas. Shri. Shinde further stated that the Govt. is putting forth grounds for passing the Bill as mismanagement of funds collected at Temples and Religious Institutions; but, in fact, lot of malpractices have been observed in the temple trusts run by the Government e.g. Siddhivinayak Mandir, Sree Saibaba Mandir of Shirdi, Vitthal Mandir at Pandharpur etc.