Articles
Better Temple Management & Avoidance of Communal Polarisation in AP
Dt:30/9/20
Better Temple Management
&
Avoidance of Communal Polarisation in AP
Dr T H Chowdary*
The burning of the temple Ratha (Chariot) in Antharvedi, East Godavari District, desecration of the temple East Godavari District, the disappearance of two silver statues of lions from the Kanakadurga temple in Vijayawada, the doing away with the age old traditional practice of non-Hindus wishing to see Venkateswara in Tirumala Tirupati temple signing a declaration that they have faith in Lord Venkateswara and the intensified visitation of the proselytizers into the homes of Hindus are causing great concern among Hindus. The increasing aggressiveness of the proselytization activity and desecration of temples are being noticed since several years before . Simultaneously, we are noticing a strange fact: the population as well as the proportion of the Christians as enumerated in the successive censuses has been going down as given in the table below.
Christian Population in Andhra Pradesh (undivided)
|
|
Year |
||||
|
|
1971 |
1981 |
1991 |
2001 |
2011 |
|
Total population mln |
43.5 |
53.6 |
66.5 |
76.2 |
84.5 |
|
Christians mln |
1.8 |
1.43 |
1.2 |
1.1 |
1.1 |
|
% of Christian population |
4.19 |
2.68 |
1.83 |
1.44 |
1.38 |
Source: Census of India
2. Even as the census shows that declining Christin population and its proportion to the total, the number of churches has been going up phenomenally . Several denominations of Christians are planting churches in the villages. The Joshua program of evangelization in India involves the planting of churches, first within cycling distance (10 kmt), then within walking distance ( 5 km) and finally within hearing distance; that means in the middle of the village itself. By now in AP the first two phases had been completed and the third phase is being implement.
3. Where does the money come from ? Is the church building or flat which is used as church having approval from the local authority; that is, the panchayat or the municipality ? ; in whose name the plot and the building are registered. are not generally known. They are not being disclosed.
4. The SCs who are converted are advised not to disclose the fact in and for any government record. That is the reason why census after census, as the indoctrination is intensified and fraud has become extensive, the Christian population is recorded as diminishing . The purpose of not disclosing conversion is to avail of reservations for SCs . Almost all persons elected from reserved SC constituencies, including MLAs and , MPs are converts to Christianity. They submit- false S.C certificates. If any questions are raised about the fraud, then organised effort is made to foist an atrocity case upon the complainant.
5. In the villages in the evening churches of different denominations play Christian songs loudly to the great annoyance of the non-Christians disturbing their quiet and even sleep in the night. It is not uncommon to see that the number of churches in a villages is totally outnumbering the temples . While the number of temples is generally not increasing, the number of churches is increasing phenominally. For eg: in the village, Angaluru in Gudlavalleru Mandal of Krishna district while there are only 3 to 4 Hindu temples , there are 12 churches, all of which had come in the last 15 -20 years. The census shows there are no Christian in the village and this fact is confirmed by the information obtained from the local Panchayat under the Right to Information Act.
6. After the change of the government from TDP to YSRCP in May 2019 there is a intensification of proselytization and confrontation between the proselytizers and Hindus. In East Godavari district a church functionary had gone to the extent of demanding the division of the district to create a Christian majority district, just like Muslim majority district Malappuram in Kerala and Mewat in Haryana had been carved out . Under intense protest from the public the gentleman has apologized for his intemperate demand.
7. The situation with regard to temples in contrast to churches and mosques in AP is very disturbing . During the regime (2014-19) of the TDP Chief Minister, government subsidy for constriction of churches was increased from Rs. 3 lakhs to Rs. 5 lakhs; the subsidy to Christians for their Jerusalem pilgrimage had been increased from Rs. 25,000 to Rs.50,000 to Rs. 75,000 just before the 2019 elections! Proposal was taken up to pay monthly salaries to Imams and muezzins, followed by pastors . GOAP has been funding the construction of Urdu Ghars and Shadi Khanas for the exclusive use of Muslims. During the rule of the TDP Chief Minister, about 30 temples were demolished in Vijayawada for beautification of the town preparatory to the Krishna Pushkarams in 2018. The Chief Minister promised to rebuild them but did not . On the other hand, he laid the foundation stone for a Rs. 80 cr multistoreyed Haj House in Vijayawada and promised to construct one, more Haj House in Kadapa/ Kurnool at a cost of Rs. 10 cr! He gave Rs. 10 cr for the Muslims’ Tablighi conference in Nov 2018, in Kurnool. During the period when the TDP and BJP were in the ruling alliance in AP (2014-18) , with the TTD Devasthanam money a programs of building Rama temples in Harijana wadas, tribal villages and fishermen colonies ; Divya Darshan in which 1000 SCs, STs and poor Hindus from each district were shown seven temples from Simhachalam in the north to Tirumala in the South; deployment of trained Dharma Pracharaks in each Mandal were undertaken. The TDP CM discontinued all these programs when he broke with the BJP in 2018. He launched an offensive called Dharma Poratam, denouncing Modi and the BJP almost every day from different district towns. The Dharma Prachar Trust of the TTD was placed under a flattering Hindu astrologer who gratefully justified the discontinuance of all activities of TTD with its own money, in defence, preservation and promotion of Hindu dharma.
8. As soon as the TDP was defeated in 2019 elections, all the Trust Boards of temples were dissolved. The new government headed by Sri Jagan Mohan Reddy filled up the Trust Boards as in the past with favoured politicians and financiers without any regard for their regard for Hinduism. Even pseudo Hindus ( converts with Hindu names) were appointed as trustees as during the TDP and Congress regimes. It is clear that while churches and mosques are left to be managed and administered by the people of those faiths and their organizations, it is only the Hindus temples which have revenues (devotees offerings and yield from their immovable properties including agricultural land and city sites ) above a certain sum, are under government management. The temple revenues and the resources are now at the mercy of Christian organisations and their patrons in the government. The government gave Covid relief to Imams, muezzins, Pastors and Archakas (in Hindus temples) . The number of pastors who applied for this help was 29,841 nearly equal to the 31,017 Archakas . And the Imams and muezzins together numbered 7,000. What is surprising is that the Christian Pastors ministering to 1.6% of the Christian population are nearly equal to the Archakas who are catering to over 87% Hindu population. Earlier the fraud, namely converts not enumerating as Christians but with false caste certificates as Hindu SC, was kept secret whereas now with the change in government headed by a Christian, facts are boldly coming out . The large number of Pastors proves the truth of Project Joshua, planting churches everywhere . A large number of Christian organised NGos receive foreign funds which are used to convert Hindus and plant churches. Lists of villages the number of churches / prayer halls and known Christian population in them were given to some District Collectors with request to investigate in regard to sources of funds, permission for buildings and actual number of Christians and its variance from census figures. No action was taken by the Collectors.
9. Unless temples are freed from government administration and management , Hindus will be paying a type of zezia to support and advance Christians and Muslims in the state, particularly Christians. The regional parties are competing with one another to appease and please Christians and Muslims for their votes . Hindus are being divided on the basis of castes and insentivised to fight one another for more state funds. The program started with the TDP government headed by Sri Naidu who created caste -wise welfare corporations - for Kapus, for Vaisyas and for Brahmins. The present government of YSRCP has increased this caste-wise welfare corporations from 3 to 52. Thus, Hindus will be incentived to quarrel with one another to get more and more welfare money to their corporations.
10. The situation is slowly radicalizing Hindus. Which way this radicalization moves ; castes against castes and all of them against people of minority religions and what would be the attitude of the government, are to be seen. So far, the country has been witnessing Hindu-Muslim divide and riots; now AP is beginning to witness Hindu-Christian riots, ( of which I wrote as long as in 2016 & 2018 ). In this troubling situation , Sri Asaduddin Oweisi of All India Majlis Ittehadul Muslameen (AIMIM) is stridently courting SCs (and STs) to forge a common front to fight “Hindutva” forces – a repetition of the pre-1947 Muslim League’s performance.
11. In conclusion, what are immediately need are:
· Government should disengage itself form management and administration of Hindu temples, just as it does not concern with churches and mosques
· Government should not fund construction of churches , Urdu Ghars, Haj Houses , Shadi Khanas and pilgrimage to Israel and Makka.
· Churches and other Christian places of worship by whatever name they are called, may be enumerated, village and district -wise and source of funds and local authorities’ permissions should be ascertained .
· The dissonance between the declining Christian population as shown in the census on the one hand and the huge number of churches that had come up on the other hand must be investigated so that the fraud can be brought to light.
· The aggressive programs of proselytization and the proselytizers invoking the Prevention of Atrocities against SCs Act must be stopped.
(1,651 words)
END