Fwd: “Swarajya” For Hindu Temples

must read. and weep.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Capt.

http://swarajyamag.com/culture/swarajya-for-hindu-temples/

Swami Venkataraman, an Executive Council member of the Hindu American Foundation, is a Vice President at Moody's Investors Service in New York. He holds an MBA in Finance from IIM Calcutta and a B.Tech in Electronics Engineering from IIT Madras.

18 Jun, 2015

The long-term process of turning Hindu temples and institutions over to the control of Hindus themselves ought to be the second major item on the social agenda of the Modi sarkar.

The Hindu American Foundation believes that the right way for the Modi government to manage/avoid controversies arising from social and cultural issues is to articulate a clear social agenda. We covered academia and textbooks in part I. Here we address the management of Hindu temples. One of the great ironies of Indian secularism is that a vocally secular government sees no contradiction in managing Hindu temples, and only Hindu temples. This despite article 26 of the Indian Constitution providing people of all religions with the freedom to manage their religious institutions. Several state-level Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Acts have allowed states to assume financial and management control of over a hundred thousand Hindu temples, including magnificent ancient temples of immense religious significance. These HR&CE departments are headed by a cabinet minister or by ostensibly autonomous, but government appointed, boards which includes both politicians, and non-Hindus.

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