Advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar, National President, Hindu Vidhidnya Parishad, appealed to all Hindus on a Youtube Live streaming event, including temple trustees, priests and devotees, to stop the government takeover of the Hindu temples and take care of the management of temples on behalf of the devotees. The interaction was aired on a senior foreign journalist, Meena Das Narayan’s show ‘Candid Meena’, a popular YouTube channel, on 15th May 2021.
Advocate Ichalkaranjikar answered the questions asked by her and the live audience on the adverse effects of the Government takeover of temples, the direction of action to bring temples under the control of devotees, use of the RTI Act, discrimination faced by Hindus in the name of ‘secularism’, etc. He suitably replied to all the questions and pointers throughout the session, and the doubts were eliminated.
The speaker reiterated that different State Governments in India have taken over Hindu temples without even having the idea of taking over churches and mosques. The root cause of this problem is the lack of awareness and unity amongst Hindus. Temples have long been a source of energy for Hindus; however, in the present situation, Hindus do not get enough education on Dharma through temples anywhere, unlike all other religions.
The Government establishments are being run at a loss due to their mismanagement. Such State Governments, which cannot handle their establishment properly, their untrained Government officials and employees are managing Hindu temples. As a result, the wealth of the temples is badly misused. There is no punishment for corruption indulged in the management of these temples. They should fight for this by being ‘Hindus by karma’ instead of merely ‘Hindus by birth’.
Advocate Virendra Ichalkaranjikar further said, “The Waqf Act was enacted in 1995 through the then Central Government. Through this, the Waqf Board has been given unlimited powers only for the benefit of Muslims. According to a Government report, the same Waqf Board now owns more than 6 lakh acres of land across the country with assets worth Rs. 1.20 lakh crore. Also, despite these, Waqf Boards collect a large amount of money; the Government is nourishing the minority Muslims with a population of more than 15 crores by using money from Hindu temples and collecting taxpayers’ money. In the case of Hindus, this discrimination is taking place, and the Hindus should wage a legal fight against it. Attempts should also be made to stop the misrepresentation of Hindu temples, Saints and defence forces through various web series. Advocate Ichalkaranjikar finally said that no one dares to launch a ‘web series’ on various topics and scams like sexual exploitation in churches.
