Protest : AP Govt hell-bent on acquiring ISKCON Secunderabad temple land

Ashadh Shuklapaksha 12, Kaliyug Varsha 5115

Do, those attacking Hindu temples, ever take any action against unauthorized mosques and madarasas ?

Hundreds of ISKCON devotees and devout Hindus participated in the protest

Shri. Thakur Raja Singh addressing to the audience

Bhagyanagar (Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh) : Land belonging to ISKCON temple will be acquired for Metro railway project at Bhagyanagar. ISKCON has been protesting against this decision of the State Government.

1. Dr. Sahadev Das, the Chief of ISKCON, Secunderabad said while giving information about these agitations that they would not give a legal fight as the present judicial system is corrupt and they have no faith in such system. They would take the problem to the people’s Court. 

2. ISKCON has set up a squad of 50 volunteers for the said agitation. This squad will oppose to those who try to acquire temple’s land for Metro railway. If required, this squad won’t hesitate to throw themselves at bulldozers.

3. When Dr. Sahadev Das had gone, along with representatives of other organizations, to the office of the Police Commissioner of Bhagyanagar city to meet him, he was busy in watching TV. The Commissioner was not even ready to look at these representatives and he told them to keep the application and leave. He did not ask them the reason for their coming to Commissioner’s office; moreover, he was so engrossed in watching half-naked women on TV that he was not aware of anybody’s presence in the office. Dr. Sahadev said that it was therefore, decided to protest by blocking the roads. 

Shri.Chetan Janardan, HJS Spokeperson for Andhra Pradesh addressing to the audience

4. Traffic was blocked for few hours in Bhagyanagar city as part of agitation.

5. Dr. Das said that it was possible to fight against the Government’s orders only through people’s movement.

6. In the year 2008 also, an attempt was made to destroy ISKCON temple and it is now repetition of the same.

7. On 28th July, agitations were staged against government’s decision. More than 150 ISCKON devotees and Hindu activists were present for the agitation. Shri. Thakur Raja Singh said, “Though I have come late for the agitation, now I will not move away from this agitation till my last breath and we will not allow government to take away temple land at any cost.”

Source : Daily Sanatan Prabhat

Protest : AP Govt hell-bent on acquiring ISKCON Secunderabad temple land

July 20, 2013

From Qutub Minar, Taj Mahal to small structures belonging to Christians and Muslims are never touched by governments. But many Hindu temples are demolished for so-called development so far. Government controls Hindu temples by making laws but they do not dare to control Churches and Mosques. O Hindus, how long will you tolerate such gross injustice and discrimination ? To change this situation, join hands to establish Hindu Rashtra as the earliest possible.

All devout Hindus are requested to sign the petition here: 
http://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/government-of-andhra-pradesh-withdraw-notification-for-demolition-of-iskcon-temple-in-secunderabad

ISKCON Temple, Secunderabad

Secunderabad : The HMR authorities had issued a land acquisition notice to Iskcon located on Sardar Patel Road opposite St John’s Church in Secunderabad to get 1,700 sq yards of the 3,500 sq yards belonging to the temple.

The land is required for metro corridor-III that runs from Nagole to Shilparamam via Sangeet and Iskcon. The devotees of Lord Krishna were in no n mood to hand over the temple land, said Sahdev Das.

Determined to put up a fight against the government’s move to acquire their land for Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project, members of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (Iskcon) will launch a mass contact programme across the state next week.

“We have decided to protest the proposal of taking away our land for Metro Rail project. We will launch an awareness programme across the state next week to mobilise mass support,” Sahadev Das, president of Iskcon, Secunderabad, said.

ISKCON Temple, Secunderabad

So far 985 devotees have vowed to sleep in front of any bulldozers that might dare to touch the temple walls. They are known as ‘Over Our Dead Bodies volunteers’ and their number is set to swell in next few days. The government has given a deadline of 27th July for the temple to file its objections and at least 10,000 letters from its followers will be filed as ISKCON Secunderabad’s official reply.  

Last time in 2008, the central government (Ministry of Home Affairs) had advised the state government to be careful in dealing with ISKCON Secunderabad lest it becomes “the Ayodhya of south India”. In spite of this, the state government has decided, yet again, to play the ‘Tom and Jerry’ game with ISKCON Secunderabad. 

This is not an isolated incident but an overall indication of the state of Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh. In this state, the Endowment department controls more than 31,000 temples and all the bureaucracy and corruption has taken the life out of these temples. Their lands and properties worth billions have been illegally occupied and the government has remained a mute spectator or an accomplice. But in case of Christianity and Islam, their places of worship are not under the government’s control. 

Few years ago, Andhra Pradesh government issued an order to allot 6 out of 7 hills to other religions on Tirumala hills, claiming Balaji owns only one out of the seven hills. But Balaji’s another name is ‘Lord Of The Seven Hills’ and after the Hindu leaders protested, the government had to withdraw these controversial orders.

Of course not only the state government, the policies of the Indian government in general have been against the interests of Hindu temples, especially in the post-independence era. The present case is just another example of this. 

The complete updates are available : attackonhinduism.com

All devout Hindus are requested to sign the petition here: 
http://www.change.org/en-IN/petitions/government-of-andhra-pradesh-withdraw-notification-for-demolition-of-iskcon-temple-in-secunderabad

Sources : ISKCON News, TOI