The Karnataka high court order on Tuesday (September 28) reversed a 2018 Congress-era decision and directed the state government to appoint a Hindu purohit at Datta Peeta, located in a cave in Chikmagalur’s Baba Budangiri mountains. A single-judge bench of Justice P S Dinesh Kumar ruled that the order entrusting ceremonies to the Mujawar (Muslim Priest) of the peeta, at the exclusion of Hindu purohits is “unsustainable in law”.
Reportedly, in 2018, the Siddaramaiah government had passed an order, overlooking recommendations of the Endowment Commissioner’s report, and unilaterally appointing a Muslim maulvi as the priest of the peeta, that dates back several centuries with Hindus at the center of its history.
According to a Live Law report, the court pointed out the congress government by stating that “the State Government had chosen to accept the High-Level Committee’s recommendation to reject the Endowment Commissioner’s Report” despite the high-level committee report not being “free from the vice of bias”.
Congress overlooking EC’s report
The Endowment Commissioner report recorded Bhagwan Dattatreya as the son of Rishi Athri by his virtuous wife mata Anasuya and as an embodiment of Hindu trinity comprising of the legendary Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The report was submitted on March 10, 2010, before the Supreme Court and in short, the report suggested that a Hindu purohit shall be appointed by the management committee of the peeta.
However, true to its appeasement style of politics, Congress looked the other way and handed the peeta and its duties on a platter to the minority community.
The Muslims claim it to be the place of Dada Hayat Mir Qualandar and refer it to as “Sree Gurudattathreya Bababudnaswamy Dargha.” They believe that the ‘saint’ took up residence here more than 150 years ago and brought coffee seeds for the first time to India from Yemen.
After the decision by the High Court, the Muslim faction, led by one Syed Ghouse Mohiuddin Shah Khadri, the hereditary administrator of the peeta remarked that he intended to file a writ appeal challenging the order.
A huge victory for Hindus
Hindus wrestling back the control of the mandir is a monumental feat as the Dattatreya peeta is often referred to as the ‘Babri’ of south. In December, the annual religious ceremonies are conducted to mark Datta Jayanti and this is the time when the tensions are at their peak in the region.
Meanwhile, the court also referred to the order of the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the Ram Janmabhoomi Temple case and stated “that faith is a matter for the individual believer. Once the court has intrinsic material to accept that the faith or belief is genuine, it must defer to the belief of the worshipper.”
Mahabaleshwar mandir and Congress trying to take the control
Another mandir in south India that had seemingly been taken away from the control of Hindus by the Congress party, was the Mahabaleshwar mandir. Immediately after coming to power, the K. Siddaramaiah led Congress-JD(S) govt had announced their intention to bring back the mandirs that were denotified by the previous BJP govt.
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In 2008, the B. S. Yediyurappa led BJP government had decided to remove the mandir from government control and had handed over the management of the mandir to Ramachandrapura Mutt. While the original trustees of the temple were engaged in discussion with the BJP government regarding changing the duties, the JDS government that came to power in 2013, sought this as an opportunity to bring the mandir under government rule and cash in on its coffers.
The Congress falsely alleged that after government shedding controls, Brahmins had taken over the mandirs and there was caste discrimination. However, the Supreme Court of India, in April, earlier this year handed over the management of Mahabaleshwar mandir to an oversight committee headed by former Supreme Court judge Justice BN Srikrishna.
Congress and its ‘history’ of ‘altering history’
Reported extensively by TFI, on the centenary of the Moplah Genocide of the Malabar Hindus, it is pertinent to note the role of Congress in instigating the genocide and later sweeping it under the carpet by altering the history.
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, an influential Congress leader at the time had intertwined the Khilafat Movement with the Indian Independence movement to form a fatal concoction that eventually lead to the butchering of over 10,000 Hindus, in the guise of overthrowing British imperialism.
Discounting the severity and anti-Hindu nature of the ‘Moplah genocide’, Mahatma Gandhi argued, “Hindus must find out the causes of Moplah fanaticism. They will find that they are not without blame.” He went on to say, “Forcible conversions are horrible things. But Moplah bravery must command admiration. These Malabaris are not fighting for the love of it. They are fighting for what they consider is their religion and, in the manner, they consider is religious.”
National Herald – the Congress party’s mouthpiece, in an article titled, “RSS on a mission to disparage the glory of peasant movements to propagate its communal agenda,” claimed, “Colonial India had witnessed two major peasant movements. The Malabar rebellion, which is also known as the Moplah movement of Kerala, and the Titumir struggle of Bengal. Incidentally, the leaders of both the movements were Muslims.The Malabar rebellion was an armed revolt staged by the Mappila Muslims against the British authorities and their Hindu allies in 1921.”
Hindu terror – Congress and its hatred for Hindus
If trying to occupy Hindu mandirs was not enough, the Congress and its senior leaders have been at the forefront of projecting a theory called ‘Hindu terror’. In the aftermath of the 26/11 Mumbai attacks, senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh had accused RSS of the attacks by attending a book launch. Alongside Mahesh Bhatt, Digvijaya released the book titled “26/11 RSS Ki Saazish?” and openly talked about his figment of imagination, that is, Hindu terror.
Former Mumbai top cop Rakesh Maria in his book ‘Let Me Say It Now’, revealed that 26/11 terror attack convict Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab would have died as Bengaluru resident ‘Samir Dinesh Chaudhari’, with a ‘Kalava’ tied around his wrist had he not been caught alive. And it would have given the fodder to the likes of Congress leaders to push their Hindu Terror agenda.
BJP started slow but cleaning up the mess
Although BJP is often found wanting as well in reclaiming the glory of the Indian mandirs, the Karnataka government under Basavaraj Bommai has started off charmingly. Recently, the state government prohibited the use of mandir money for any non-Hindu purposes stating that the finances of mandirs will be used for Hindu causes alone.
Also read: Hindu Temple funds will not be used for non-Hindu purposes in Karnataka anymore
In May last year, TFI had reported how the Tamil Nadu government asked 47 major mandirs of the state to cough up a total of 10 crore rupees as a ‘contribution’ to the CM’s relief fund, so as to aid in the fight against COVID-19. Meanwhile, Kerala’s Guruvayur mandir was made to ‘contribute’ Rs. 5 crores to the CM’s Relief Fund by the Communist government of the state, using its proxies in the Guruvayur Devaswom Board.
What is more disturbing is the fact that such loot of Hindu mandirs is permitted by the Constitution, while other religious communities enjoy absolute freedom from the government in their places of worship.
The practice of the government being bestowed with powers to administrate mandirs dates its origins back to colonial India when the British thought it fit to assume control over mandirs whenever they so desired.