Karnataka government's temple funds move irks BJP, saffron party did it in 2011, says Congress
Bengaluru, Feb 22: The Karnataka government's move to collect funds from temples with over Rs 10 lakh annual income has angered the opposition BJP, which charged the ruling Congress with trying to fill its 'empty coffers' with temple money. A related Assembly bill was passed on Wednesday.
Defending the move as aimed at ensuring welfare of different sections, the Congress sought to turn the tables on its rival saying the saffron party had effected an amendment in 2011 to seek funds from high-income Hindu shrines.
The Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments (Amendment) Bill was passed in the state Assembly on February 21.
Regarding the bill, the government said it was necessary to enhance the amount of common pool fund, include a person skilled in Vishwa Hindu Temple architecture and sculpture in the committee of management of notified institutions and to form district and state-level committees to improve shrines and infrastructure for the safety of pilgrims.
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Transport and Hindu Religious Endowments minister Ramalinga Reddy told reporters that the provision was not new but has existed since 2003.
He also said an amendment was brought by the then BJP government in 2011 to collect funds from high income group temples.
Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act 1997 came into force on May 1, 2003 and provisions were made for Common Pool Fund under Section 17 of the said Act, he explained.
Common Pool Fund was implemented in the year 2003 itself. Section 17 of the Act was amended in 2011 to collect funds from high income group temples so as to aid temples with lesser income under the said fund.
The Rajya Dharmika Parishad, a committee to improve the temple management for the benefit of pilgrims, is authorised to utitlise Common Pool, Reddy said.
According to him, there were 3,000 C-Grade temples in Karnataka, which have an annual income of less than Rs 5 lakh from where the 'Dharmika Parishad' gets no money.
Temples earning between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh were classified as B-grade temples, from where 5 per cent of the gross income had been going to the committee since 2003.
The Dharmika Parishad had been getting 10 per cent revenue from those temples whose annual gross income was above Rs 25 lakh since 2003.
"Now what we have done is we have made it free from paying to Dharmika Parishad if the income is up to Rs 10 lakh. We have made provisions to collect five per cent from temples whose gross income is between Rs 10 lakh and less than a crore. 10 per cent will be collected from temples whose income is above Rs 1 crore. All this amount will reach the Dharmika Parishad," Reddy said.
The Minister said there are 40,000 to 50,000 priests in the state whom the state government wants to help.
"If the money reaches Dharmika Parishad then we can provide them insurance cover. We want their families to get at least Rs 5 lakh if something happens to them. To pay the premium we need Rs 7 crore to 8 crore (annually)," he explained.
The Minister said the government wants to provide scholarships to children of temple priests, which would require Rs 5-6 crore per year and housing facilities for C group priests and temple employees.
"This entire amount will benefit the temple priests only, many of whom are in poor condition," he said.
Government sources said the purpose behind the bill is to provide facilities and safety to pilgrims within the jurisdiction of Group 'A' temples.
A district level and state high-level committee will be constituted to scrutinise, review and submit the proposals regarding the construction and maintenance of buildings, roads and tunnels, electricity supply and maintenance, water supply and sanitation, construction of recreation centres and libraries to provide necessary facilities to pilgrims and to provide safety to pilgrims within the jurisdiction of Group "A" Temples, they added.
Taking exception to the move, BJP state president B Y Vijayendra said, "Corrupt, inept #LootSarkaar with its penchant for anti-Hindu ideology in the guise of secularism, has cast its evil eyes on the temple revenues."
"Through the Hindu Religious Endowments amendment act, it is trying to siphon-off donations as well as offerings from Hindu temples and religious institutions in order to fill its empty coffers," he said in a post on 'X.'
The Shivamogga MLA said the the government plans to "gobble" up 10 per cent of the temple revenue exceeding Rs 1 crore and 5 percent of those below Rs 1 crore.
"This not only reflects the deplorable condition of this government, but also shows its abject hate towards Hindu Dharma," he charged.
Temple funds should be dedicatedly utilised for renovation of temples and to facilitate work beneficial to devotees, rather than diverting it for other purposes, which would be an injustice and betrayal of people's religious beliefs, the BJP state chief said.
Why only Hindu temples are targeted for revenue, leaving out other religions, is a question raised by millions of devotees, he said.
"Instead of grabbing the devotees' money, government can install donation boxes so that the concerned citizens can help this penniless govt boost its revenue as a gesture of goodwill," he stated.
Union Minister and BJP leader Rajeev Chandrasekhar too slammed the Congress government in the state over the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Bill and called it a "new low" for the state's ruling party.
Corrupt, inept #LootSarkaar with its penchant for anti Hindu ideology in the guise of secularism, has cast its evil eyes on the Temple🛕 revenues. Through the Hindu Religious Endowments amendment act, it is trying to siphon off donations as well as offerings from Hindu temples… pic.twitter.com/Vzf9RQTaP4
— Vijayendra Yediyurappa (@BYVijayendra) February 22, 2024
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Oppn raising SIR to keep 'ghuspathiye' in electoral rolls: Shah
New Delhi (PTI): In a stinging attack at the Opposition over its criticism of the SIR, Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said they are worried because they can no longer win elections by corrupt practices and claimed that the reason for Congress' defeat in polls was its leadership and not EVMs or "vote chori".
Intervening in a debate on election reforms in the Lok Sabha, Shah alleged that the Opposition is raising the issue of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to keep "avaidh ghuspathiye (illegal immigrants)" in the voters' list.
When the opposition MPs walked out later, Shah said no matter how many times the Opposition boycotts, the NDA will continue with its policy of detect, delete and deport 'ghuspathiye'.
The Opposition wants to normalise and formalise the 'ghuspathiye' and add them in electoral rolls, he said.
The BJP leader cited three instances of alleged "vote chori" by Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi.
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"Post Independence, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was backed by 28 persons while Jawaharlal Nehru by two persons and yet Nehru became the prime minister, this was vote chori," he said.
The minister said that the second "vote chori" was by Indira Gandhi, when she granted herself immunity after court set aside her election.
He said the dispute of third "vote chori" has just reached civil courts on how Sonia Gandhi became a voter before becoming citizen of India.
Shah also took a dig at the Congress and said the reason for its poll losses was its leadership.
"If someone asks a question in a presser he is dubbed as a BJP agent, if they lose a case, they accuse the judge, if they lose an election, they blame EVMs. Now when EVM blame does not hold, they brought up vote chori...still they lost Bhar. Now the reason for your defeat is your leadership and not EVM or voters' list," the home minister said.
"They think no one holds them accountable, 'bhagwan kare, I am proved wrong and one day Congress workers seek their accountability," he said.
Shah also accused the Opposition of spreading falsehoods on SIR and launched a strong defence of the exercise, asking whether democracy can be safe when the prime minister and the chief ministers are decided by 'ghuspathiye'.
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He said the Opposition "gets angry when we talk of history, but how can any country or society move forward without history".
"The first SIR was conducted in 1952, when Jawaharlal Nehru was the prime minister and the Congress was in power. Then it happened in 1957 when Nehru was there, the third happened in 1961 and Nehru was there.
"Then it happened during Lal Bahadur Shastri's time, then again during Indira Gandhi's time, Rajiv Gandhi's time, Narasimha Rao's time, and then in 2002 during Atal Bihari Vajpayee's time which continued till Manmohan Singh's time," he said.
"No party had opposed this process because it is a process of keeping elections clean and keeping democracy healthy," Shah said.
He said the objective of the SIR of electoral rolls is to remove those who have died, add the names of those who have turned 18 and delete foreign nationals one by one.
"I want to say to the House and people -- Can a country's democracy be safe when the prime minister and the chief minister are decided by 'ghuspathiye'," Shah said.
The BJP leader said the Opposition thinks that it is tarnishing the image of the government but in reality they are tarnishing the image of India's democracy.
"They kept on doing vote chori, vote chori, and took out 'ghuspathiye bachao yatra' and we won by 2/3rd majority in Bihar," he said.
The new tradition is that if they lose, they defame the EC and electoral rolls which is not good for the country's democracy.
"If electoral rolls were corrupted, why did you contest elections," Shah asked the Opposition in the Lok Sabha.
He said the BJP has lost more elections than it has won, but it never questioned the Election Commission.
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"EVMs stopped election chori and that is why they are worried. Their method of election was not mandate but corrupt practices, and they have been fully exposed," he said.
Opposition worried as people of country do not vote for them and SIR will delete names of illegal immigrants who back them, he said.
Tradition of electoral loss began in 2014 and the Congress blamed EVMs, which were brought by Rajiv Gandhi in 1989, he said.
The EVMs were used for first time in 2004 and then in 2009 elections and on both occasions, the Congress won, but they started complaining only after 2014 loss, he said.
He stressed that Parliament is the biggest panchayat for discussions and the BJP-NDA people never run away from a discussion.
"We asked for having it later for two reasons -- they (Opposition) were asking for discussion on SIR and I believe discussion on SIR cannot be held because it comes under the Election Commission," Shah said.
"When they said we want to discuss election reforms, we agreed immediately. A debate was agreed on electoral reforms, but the majority of opposition members talked of SIR. On this SIR, one-sided falsehoods were being propagated in the last four months and efforts were made to mislead people," he said.
