Chandrababu Naidu emerges out to be doyen of appeasement politics

Andhra Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has emerged out to be the doyen of appeasement politics in India. On Tuesday, he increased the financial aid that is given to the Christian pilgrims to travel to Jerusalem from Rs 40,000 to Rs 75,000 per person. In what can be seen as an attempt of promoting conversions, he also promised to put efforts to ensure SC status to Dalit Christians. As if it was not enough, he announced to set up a Rs 100 crore fund for land acquisition and construction of burial grounds for Christians in Andhra Pradesh. According to a New Indian Express report, Chandrababu Naidu made all the aforementioned announcements aimed at appeasing Christian community in the Christmas celebrations organized at St Paul’s Basilica Church in Vijayawada.

Chandrababu Naidu didn’t stop here. According to a New Indian Express report, he further announced Rs 1.5 crore grants for completing the construction of St Paul’s Basilica Church. This under construction Church would become one of the biggest churches in the country after its completion. He also said that Rs 2 crore has already been allocated for the construction of Christian community halls, Rs 10 crore was granted to Christian Bhavan while another Rs 6 crore would be sanctioned for the Christian Bhavan. Chandrababu Naidu also said that his government has provided Rs 110 crore for Christian Corporation and is also providing Rs 50,000 for the marriage of poor Christian girls.

On the one hand, Chandrababu Naidu leaves no stone unturned in order to appease Muslims and Christians of the state. On the other hand, he treats Hindu places of worship and institutions as piggy-banks for the TDP. Media maintains a stoic silence on this blatant discrimination for some secular reasons. Hindu temples are facing an assault from “secular” state governments all across the country.

In May this year, Chandrababu Naidu had asked the Endowment Department of Andhra Pradesh to auction the land controlled by Hindu religious institutions. In June, the High Court of Andhra Pradesh had slammed the Andhra Pradesh government for giving away temple land to third parties without seeking permission from the Court. The High Court had ordered the state government to pay at a rate of Rs 24 lakh per acre along with 24 percent interest per annum for the four-acre land Andhra government took away from Sri Amareswara Swamy temple in Amaravathi village of Guntur district 16 years ago without having paid a single rupee so far. The district collector of Guntur delivered possession of the land to the Social Welfare Department for raising a girls’ hostel without adequately compensating for the temple. Earlier, a single judge bench had ordered the authorities to compensate the temple management before the transfer of temple land. Andhra Pradesh Social Welfare Residential Schools Society argued against the single judge order and contended that the government has the power to allot endowment land for public purposes. However, the bench of acting Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice J Uma Devi dismissed the plea and upheld the single judge bench order.

Since independence, religious institutions of Hindus are gradually being taken over by the Andhra Pradesh state government in order to gain access to their resources. The management boards which control temples are mostly headed by some ‘esteemed academicians’ who do not even believe in God or doubt the existence of one. The priests are not allowed to interfere in the management of temples, and finally getting fed up of these corrupt left-leaning board managers, some priests have started to speak out against them. In the holy name of secularism, governments control the religious rituals carried out in temples, decide who will be appointed as the Chief Pujari of the temple, manage their finances and even tax the income of Hindu temples. This seems similar to the Mughal period when “jizya” (a special tax paid by Non-Muslims to Muslim rulers) was paid by Hindus. The temple boards have completely commercialized the operations of the temple with arrangements such as VIP darshan and shortening of rituals. They are running temples like a corporate house to maximize the profits for themselves and for the government, while the faith of devotees is hurt due to such blatant commercialization. 

The bench of Chief Justice Ramesh Ranganathan and Justice J Uma Devi had said that any alienation of endowment (a donation of money or property to a non-profit organization, which uses the resulting investment income for a specific purpose) land should be done only if it furthers the cause of the endowment, as per the definition of endowment. It said, “You have wrongly learned that all endowment lands, be it temple land or waqf land, are government lands. You have to unlearn it first. Remember the order of this high court issued a decade ago making it compulsory for the state to obtain the nod of the high court to alienate endowment lands. Endowments commissioner has to accord permission for such alienation and it should be done only by way of a public auction and it should be done only if it helps the endowment.” If the state wants to acquire the endowment land for public purpose, as per 2013 land acquisition Act, it can go with that but the government will have to compensate the temple since temple land is not public property as per law. 

There is anger amongst the priests and the common people of the country against the ‘secular’ governments controlling Hindu temples and religious institutions. If the governments do not take over thousands of churches and affiliated educational and medical institutions, then they should also not interfere in the management of Hindu institutions. It is well known that many Christian organizations run education and medical trusts and being minority institutions they do not find the need to pay taxes and make a lot of money. These institutions also have reserved seats for people from their communities, and even top colleges such as St Stephens College and Delhi University carry out this practice. Similarly, there are Madrasas and universities run by Muslims, and in their case, the government even funds these institutions. When simplified, it appears as if the government is taking money from religious institutions of Hindus and giving it to a Muslim or Christian institution.