Vaishvik Hindu Parishad demanded a Hindu Mandir Board as the ultimate authority over all the temples of the country, similar to the Waqf Board. The Hindu front also demanded that the government repeal the Religious Endowment Act 1951 citing it as Hindu-phobic and alleging unfair and unjust government control.
The Hindu Janajagruti Samiti has organised the 12th edition of Vaishvik Hindu Rashtra Mahotsav at Shri Ramnath Devasthan in Goa’s Ponda. The week long convention is supposed to be attended by over 2,000 delegates from over 350 Hindu organisations from across the world.
On the fifth day of the convention, the Vaishvik Hindu Mahotsav demanded setting up of a ‘Hindu Mandir Board’ as the ultimate authority over temples, similar to the Waqf Board for places of worship for Muslims. The convention demanded a Hindu Mandir Board to protect lakhs of temples in India as the ultimate authority over temple wealth, administration and land.
Vishnu Shankar Jain, spokesperson of Hindu Front For Justice and an advocate who appeared for reclaiming temples at Kashi and Mathura, said, “The then Congress Government established the Waqf Board and strengthened it with special legal powers to protect the religious property and land belonging to the Muslim community. On the same grounds, the Union Government should set up a Hindu Mandir Board.”
The convention also demanded that the union government should immediately repeal the ‘Religious Endowment Act 1951’ to free all the temples from government control alleging that it allows the government to take over the Hindu temples in an unfair and unjust manner.
Pavan Sinha Guruji of Pavan Chintan Dhara Ashram in Uttar Pradesh said, “It is not appropriate for the government of a secular country to take over only Hindu temples. Therefore, our demand is that the government should free all temples from its control. For this purpose, we have organized the Mandir Sanskriti Parishad (Temple Culture Council).”
The convention also alleged that the Waqf Board has forcibly acquired properties belonging to Hindu temples including staking claims on 19 acres of land belonging to Shri Shani Shingnapur Temple, 12.5 acres of land belonging to Shri Kankaleshwar Temple in Beed, and around 1,200 acres of land along with the 1,500-year-old Sri Chandrasekhara Swamy temple in Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu. It demanded government resolution to free all such properties and hand them over to their rightful owners.
Sunil Ghanwat, state coordinator of Maharashtra Mandir Sangh, said, “The discussions in these annual Vaishvik Hindu Rashtra Mahotsava paved the way for ‘Mandir Sanskruti Raksha Abhiyan’, a mass movement to uphold the sanctity and ancient Vedic tradition of Hindu temples.
Till today, 14,000 temples across the Country have become part of this wider movement aimed at safeguarding the sources of divine consciousness. More than 700 temples have introduced dress code at temple premises to maintain the sanctity of temples. We plan to expand this initiative further and aim to free temple premises from businesses that offer ‘liquor and alcohol’ for sale.”
It also demanded that the government should implement a rent model similar to that of Waqf Board in Maharashtra allowing them to collect rent on their premises. It demanded for a similar model at the temples, where the land is being used for Government and private work.
