Scrap or Apply Endowments Act to All Faiths: Subramanian Swamy

Vishakhapatnam : Hitting it out at the successive state and Central governments, BJP senior leader and Virat Hindustan Sangam president Subramanian Swamy Saturday accused them of double standards and implementing the Endowments Act only for Hindu temples but not for other religious places of worship. He dared them to either repeal the Endowments Act for temples or implement it for all religions.

Delivering the keynote address at a symposium on ‘Repeal of Endowments Act’, organised by Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF), at YVS Murthy auditorium of Andhra University here Saturday, Subramanian Swamy gave a clarion call to free the temples from the clutches of the government. He felt that under the guise of the Endowments Act, the governments have been selectively controlling the temples and exploiting the temple properties besides turning them into a source of revenue. “The Endowments Act itself is in violation of the Article 26 of the Indian Constitution (which allows freedom to manage religious affairs). Why is it being implemented only for Hindus but not for other religions?” he questioned.

However, Swamy emphasised the need to find a way for the temple administration. “Every temple in this country can be freed of the government control but we need to find an administration system run by people,” he added. He termed the new century as the century of Hindu Renaissance. On the occasion, he shared his experiences in different cases in the Supreme Court over the Endowments Act, judgment in favour of the Dikshitars to control the Chidambaram temple in Tamil Nadu and also stopping the gold plating of Tirumala temple.

Sri Sarada Peetham pontiff Swaroopanandendra Saraswati objected to the exploitation of the temple properties by the state government and wanted the cow slaughter be stopped in total. He wanted the government to hand over the temple management to public or trusts rather than turning them into centres for rehabilitation of political leaders.

MLAs Velagapudi Ramakrishna, P Vishnu Kumar Raju, BJP leader Sudheesh Rambhotla, GHHF founder Velagapudi Prakash Rao, Ghazal singer Srinivas, representatives from the BJP, the VHP and religious organisations participated in the event.

Source : New Indian Express