TNM — Don’t Justify Harassment With Lies
Recently, there was an article in TNM titled “Jaggi Vasudev says ‘free Hindu temples’ — but how much are they under govt control?” (https://www.thenewsminute.com/article/jaggi-vasudev-says-free-hindu-temples-how-much-are-they-under-govt-control-145125).
The byline of the article “Jaggi Vasudev and others’ assertion to ‘free temples’ seems to imply that the state takes the income generated by temples. However, that’s hardly the case”, is in itself a conclusion that the author has reached, and clearly without having read any of the statements made by Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in connection of this issue.
The rest of the article picks and chooses appropriate half-truths and sometimes blatant lies to support this conclusion. The article depends on many assumptions made by the author, and claims made are not based on the actual laws listed in the TN HR&CE act. We have provided quotes from the TN HR& CE act and actual media reports which are in direct contradiction to the statements made.
Here is an open note to The New Minute Team to stop supporting and publishing such articles, that are not well researched and make baseless claims, to the extent of harassing others.
Lies
#1: “The assumption in the ‘free temples’ argument seems to be that the state government can make money off the temples as the respective Acts lay down rules on how the coffers of the temples should be managed.”
#2: “Any donations given to a temple — whether from collections in the hundi, or given privately — go into its bank account.”
#3: “So, if the temple’s agama or custom is that it opens at 3 am, the Department will have no say in it”
#4: “Even now, mostly temples that are of historic importance are nationalised”
#5: “He says that there are around 38,449 temples in Tamil Nadu of which 3,079 have hereditary trustees. However, the other temples have non-hereditary trustees i.e., those appointed by the HR&CE Department of the Tamil Nadu government”
#6: Dr Rajendran reasons: “The government should have minimal control in these matters. Over the years, everything has become systemised in temples; the lands, gems and jewelry have been accounted for.”
#7: “Self-identifies as ‘Sadhguru’”
Half-truths
#1: “The temples do have to get the budget’s approval from the HR&CE Department to utilise funds, however, these funds can only be utilised for activities related to the temples, and cannot — by law — be pocketed by the officials appointed by the government to the temple trusts and boards”
#2: “Further, whatever amount goes from the temple to the HR&CE Department as administration charges can only be used for the department’s functioning, and cannot be pocketed by government officials.”
#3: “These include giving aid to a temple in need, propagating religious tenets of an institution, promotion of temple arts and architecture, establishment of an educational institution where instruction in the Hindu religion is also provided and so on”
#4: “The department or commissioners are only supposed to intervene in situations such as disputes in hereditary trusteeship”
#5: “Where a Board of Trustees for a temple needs to be appointed by the HR&CE Department, one of the three persons should be a member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities.”
#6: “This also means that if, say, a Dalit is not allowed entry into a temple, he/she can file a complaint with the police, the HR&CE Department, the Collector… they need not be at the mercy of temple authorities or fight a court battle”
#7: “launched a ‘missed call campaign’”
Without further ado, let’s look at the open lies first.
Lie #1: “The assumption in the ‘free temples’ argument seems to be that the state government can make money off the temples as the respective Acts lay down rules on how the coffers of the temples should be managed.”
Sadhguru has not once made such a statement. His entire tweet thread on this context is available here: https://twitter.com/SadhguruJV/status/1364560533794381826?s=20
There is a lot more mismanagement that has happened under TN HR&CE management but Sadhguru has not highlighted all of them. He has only spoken about some of the wrongs that have happened so far and that too citing publicly published media articles:
- Thousands of idols stolen and replaced with fake idols in some cases
- Thousands of acres of temple land encroached & not restored yet
- Destruction of temple architecture in the name of maintenance
- Temples being vandalized and broken
- Secular government should not manage temples
Lie #2: “Any donations given to a temple — whether from collections in the hundi, or given privately — go into its bank account.”
Is there a legal provision for this statement that the author can back it up with?
In the entire document of the HR&CE act, the word ‘hundi’ / ‘hundial’ is spoken about in this context:
(xxvii) (a) the manner in which the hundials and other receptacles in a religious institution for putting as offerings cash or other valuables, shall be installed, maintained, opened and sealed;
(b) ensuring proper safeguards of such hundials and receptacles.
And about banks, the HR&CE act talks only in the context of the Govt having powers to make rules regarding:
the custody of the moneys of religious institutions, their deposit in, and withdrawal from, banks and the investment of such moneys ;
This does not directly indicate that the money from the hundials goes to banks as deposits. If it is indeed so, is the HR&CE willing to publish such records even online on a consolidated basis? The question of where all that hundial money is going has to be answered clearly by the HR&CE department. Such numbers are not available publicly now.
Many a temple activist has complained that if you file an RTI to get answers for such questions, the first thing TNHRCE seems to do is reject it instead of answering it.
Lie #3: “So, if the temple’s agama or custom is that it opens at 3 am, the Department will have no say in it”
This is a clear lie. Sec 24–3 and Sec 24–5 of the TNHR&CE act give the commissioner the power to enter the Garbha Gruha at all times. This apparently includes when the temple is supposed to be closed.
In case the temple trustees or pujaris decide not to permit anyone in during the time when the deity is not to be visited as per the practice of the temple, the commissioner can simply override that.
Lie #4: “Even now, mostly temples that are of historic importance are nationalised”
Some temples are nationalised in Tamilnadu. But that is not just because of them being of historic importance but primarily because the TNHRCE department messed up their architectural mainenance big time. These same politicians protested when the ASI decided to take over some temples’ control as recently as in 2020.
Here is the list of state-protected monuments in Tamilnadu:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_State_Protected_Monuments_in_Tamil_Nadu
Lie #5: “He says that there are around 38,449 temples in Tamil Nadu of which 3,079 have hereditary trustees. However, the other temples have non-hereditary trustees i.e., those appointed by the HR&CE Department of the Tamil Nadu government”
There are thousands of temples across Tamilnadu for which no trustee or board of trustees have been appointed. The High Court has ordered the TNHRCE department to publish the list of trustees at every temple.
In a shocking revelation, it was found that in some temples, even the appointment of Executive Officer has been illegally done by the TNHRCE department.
Lie #6: Dr Rajendran reasons: “The government should have minimal control in these matters. Over the years, everything has become systemised in temples; the lands, gems and jewelry have been accounted for.”
This is among the most dangerous lies that are perpetrated.
Where is the asset register for each temple? It should have been prepared and kept ready from 1959 itself. But in many cases, the temple asset register is either missing or is present from only recent years.
For example, the famous Vadapalani Murugan Temple has its register from 2015 only. This is a very old & popular temple. Nobody knows how many assets have gone missing before 2015.
Do you also know that the Commissioner has the right (under Sec 29) to order changes to the asset register and the trustees / EOs have to make it?
Are there even audit trails maintained for such changes? Nobody knows.
Is this what Rajendran calls as ‘minimal control’?
Lie #7: “Self-identifies as ‘Sadhguru’”
Sadhguru is what people call him out of their love and respect for him. He had once (and perhaps only once) insisted in a TV interview to the interviewer to address him as ‘Sadhguru’ because the interviewer was deliberately disrespectful towards him. The left / Dravidian sympathizers have since caught on spreading this lie that he keeps insisting to be called so.
Now that the lies have been exposed, let’s look at the half-truths peddled in the TNM narrative.
Half-truth #1: “The temples do have to get the budget’s approval from the HR&CE Department to utilise funds, however, these funds can only be utilised for activities related to the temples, and cannot — by law — be pocketed by the officials appointed by the government to the temple trusts and boards”
This is what the law says. But let us see what happens in reality. Temple funds are misused rampantly by officials and politicians.
— Buying property from Temple funds for self-use
— Using Temple funds for the State Government’s projects, etc.
The TNM article has actually blatantly published PTR justifying such a loot that
“In Tamil Nadu, the temple may decide to spend some funds for the HR&CE members who work there. For instance, a joint-commissioner may get a car from the temple board for his use to visit.”.
Why is PTR’s statement being quoted in the first place? Is he the HR&CE minister to make statements on behalf of the government?
And who is actually “the temple” in PTR’s statement?
The temple (as in the structure) does not decide by itself neither do the pujaris there. It is the EOs and Trustees appointed by the HR&CE who make such decisions.
If so, is it not true that the HR&CE officials are taking their own decisions to use temple money for their comfort? If the HR&CE officials are government officials, what business do they even have buying a car from the temple money?
Tomorrow, if someone buys a house on temple money, folks like PTR may shamelessly justify that as well.
Half-truth #2: “Further, whatever amount goes from the temple to the HR&CE Department as administration charges can only be used for the department’s functioning, and cannot be pocketed by government officials.”
Just look at the 2013–14 expenditure accounts published by the TNHR&CE department on their website. (https://tnhrce.gov.in/includes/pdf_files.php?id_pdf=hrce_act&)
54 crores towards officials' salary but nothing at all for the temple schemes!
Is it not ridiculous that while temple management is the work of HR&CE officials, more than 60% of the fund allocated just goes towards their salaries rather than temple renovations and maintenance?
This has changed slightly for the better in the recent TNHRCE budgets but a lion’s share of the budget still goes towards the salaries and allowances of HR&CE officials.
In the case of government-controlled Temples, a lot of the budget allocated is diverted towards paying the salaries of the government-appointed employees and a significantly less amount goes towards the actual affairs of the Temples. Who decides the budget? Of course, it is the HR&CE department itself.
Half-truth #3: “These include giving aid to a temple in need, propagating religious tenets of an institution, promotion of temple arts and architecture, establishment of an educational institution where instruction in the Hindu religion is also provided and so on”
Yes, section 66 of the document talks about the services to be provided by the temple with the surplus funds.
Many people may subconsciously associate an orphanage with a church but such provisions are also there in the TNHR&CE act for helping the poor & needy, running schools & universities, building orphanages & hospitals, etc.
However, it is the same TNHR&CE department that has reported that they do not have enough money to even take care of the temples, forget about doing social service work with the surplus fund.
Have you ever wondered why the TNHRCE department is saying Tamilnadu temples are not generating any revenues despite having more than 4.75 lakh acres of land and several thousand buildings as properties?
For a period of 7 years, the income from all this property has been only Rs 960 crores (i.e.) an average of less than Rs 140 crore per year. What kind of fund management is the TNHRCE really doing?
If you were owning such property, you would perhaps lease each acre of land for about Rs 10,000 at least per year (even this is very minimum). With just that itself, one could have earned Rs 470 crores in land lease amount every year. I am not even going into the buildings and vacant sites. Those could generate similar revenue as the lands in the lease amount. Every year, easily 1000 crores should be generated with lease of temple properties.
With such poor fund management, how will our temples ever have surplus funds and be able to do the social service work as per Sec-66 of the HR&CE act?
Half-truth #4: “The department or commissioners are only supposed to intervene in situations such as disputes in hereditary trusteeship”
The Commissioners do get involved in resolving the disputes in hereditary trusteeship but their powers extend far beyond that. The HR&CE officials above the role of trustees can do all of the following and more:
- Appoint the Trustees (Sec 25, 26, 47)
- Dismiss the Trustees (Sec 33)
- Overturn the decision of trustees (Sec 21)
- Review and Approve the expenses budget planned for the temple
- Review and Suggest changes to the temple asset registries (Sec 29)
- Fix the lessees and lease amounts for leasing temple properties including lands & buildings (Sec 34)
Half-truth #5: “Where a Board of Trustees for a temple needs to be appointed by the HR&CE Department, one of the three persons should be a member of Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe communities.”
Sec 47 of the TN HR&CE act says that if a temple’s board of trustees is formed, at least 3 of them can be appointed by the JC / DC / Commissioner. In addition, the State Government can appoint 2 members to the trustees' board. But the board size cannot be more than 5!
So, no person from a community may become a member of the board of trustees, unless they can somehow grease the hands of HR&CE officials.
The trustees' board is actually a sham, being completely in control of the HR&CE department.
Half-truth #6: “This also means that if, say, a Dalit is not allowed entry into a temple, he/she can file a complaint with the police, the HR&CE Department, the Collector… they need not be at the mercy of temple authorities or fight a court battle”
Again not entirely true. The Tamilnadu temple entry Authorisation act of 1947 ensures everyone’s right to temple entry. It is not the HR&CE act per se that enables it.
https://lawsofindia.blinkvisa.com/pdf/tamil_nadu/1947/1947TN5.pdf
Right now, if a Dalit is not allowed to enter a temple, he has to go to some higher authority and that is going to remain unchanged whether the HR&CE act is kept valid or is even scrapped completely.
Half-truth #7: “launched a ‘missed call campaign’”
The “#FreeTNTemples” is not just a missed call campaign. It is more about spreading awareness on several media about the decaying state of TN temples.
There are several ways one can register their support towards this campaign and giving a missed call to 8300083000 is just one way of doing so.
In an attempt to confuse the reader and reinforce some of the lies and half-truths, several unnecessary statements have been added to the article.
(1) “It is not really new.”
No one really claimed that Sadhguru is the first one to raise a voice for freeing Hindu temples, either in India or in Tamilnadu. People like Subramanian Swamy, T R Ramesh, and Sai Deepak have been fighting this cause for quite a while now.
Also, note that the author of this article is careful enough to ask not these pioneers but ask some random person whose opinions will only favor the HR&CE act & department.
(2) Taking examples of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh HR&CE models
This does not even matter because how temples are managed in each of these states is different. It has no context whatsoever with the maintenance of temples by the Tamilnadu HR&CE department.
This just seems to be an effort to whitewash what TNHRCE is doing with some of the good being done by some other states' HR&CE departments.
(3) Comparison of HR&CE with wakf boards for both being under Govt’s control
Such a comparison is not valid because the number of temples under the control of the government versus the number of mosques is grossly incomparable and so is the budget allocated or revenue potential of temples versus mosques.
Since the readers have made it this far, I hope they would have understood how biased & unfair the TNM article is in supporting the TNHRCE department’s flaws and criticizing the #FreeTNTemples campaign.
