Hi everyone! Disclosure: I’m a non-lawyer, and don’t possess significant knowledge about the intricacies of the law.
My question is only restricted to the following subject
- The Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department JSD calls for the dismantling of the HR&CE Ministry. As someone from Tamil Nadu, it’s widely known (and substantiated by facts) that the government, on many instances, has diverted funds from temples and redirected it towards construction of shopping malls and complexes. TN Ruling Party members routinely brag about how many temples they’ve called for the demolition of.
In essence, there is blatant disregard for temples or anything to do with Hinduism, here in TN by the government. All of you would be aware of the Sanatana Dharma row, with the Chief Minister’s son calling for its eradication and comparing it to the likes of malaria and dengue.
Therefore, to me, his arguments regarding why HR & CE should be dismantled make sense. Not only is there massive appropriation and misuse of funds, it’s also exclusionary (not sure if this is the right term) that only temples are monitored by the state government.
I would like to know if his arguments hold water regarding the dismantling of the ministry. Are there any counter-arguments to this, from a general as well as a legal perspective?
On a related note: DMK routinely makes headlines in national newspapers for standing up against the Union government. It’s crazy how much of a publicity stunt their defiance is. The party is completely corrupt and hollow to the core. They have ties to drug mafia (Jaffer Sadiq), illegal river sand (4000+ cr. worth illegally mined in the past 2 years), bribery in infrastructure contracts and SO MUCH MORE. Even their criticism of how unconstitutional EB is completely hollow, considering how much money they received from the Lottery King! It’s such a pity that we don’t have a strong, united opposition to DMK in TN.
The only issue with dismantling HR&CE is that hundreds of small temples will go without funds. How it works in most states is there are 2-3 big ticket shrines (in TN these might be Rameswaram, Madurai, Thanjavur etc) which earn all the $$$ that is used to cross subsidise the maintenance and expenditures of small temples (including priests' salaries). If there is a way for community management of these temples then it could be handed over.
Likewise for the Muslim community there is Wakf Board that is also riddled with corruption in most states. It is an independent body in name only but funds are merrily siphoned off by Govt officers and ministers. Ideally the state should get out of regulating religion except its public order, morality and health implications.
The problem is there is NO transparency. Plus the government also gave orders to temples to not screen the Ram Mandir (and no, this isn't fake news spread by Nirmala—these headlines made the news in local newspaper talking about the ban in a positive light, hours before she posted it) keep in mind that independent media in TN is truly farcical. dmk owns a large stake in the hindu, toi and pretty much every state media outlet.
TN parties are very individual dependent. DMK had a very strong opposition in AIADMK. Unfortunately Jayalalithaa didn't have a proper succession plan and the party collapsed after her demise. Karunanidhi didn't make that mistake and DMK is still going strong.
My question is only restricted to the following subject
- The Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments Department JSD calls for the dismantling of the HR&CE Ministry. As someone from Tamil Nadu, it’s widely known (and substantiated by facts) that the government, on many instances, has diverted funds from temples and redirected it towards construction of shopping malls and complexes. TN Ruling Party members routinely brag about how many temples they’ve called for the demolition of.
In essence, there is blatant disregard for temples or anything to do with Hinduism, here in TN by the government. All of you would be aware of the Sanatana Dharma row, with the Chief Minister’s son calling for its eradication and comparing it to the likes of malaria and dengue.
Therefore, to me, his arguments regarding why HR & CE should be dismantled make sense. Not only is there massive appropriation and misuse of funds, it’s also exclusionary (not sure if this is the right term) that only temples are monitored by the state government.
I would like to know if his arguments hold water regarding the dismantling of the ministry. Are there any counter-arguments to this, from a general as well as a legal perspective?
On a related note: DMK routinely makes headlines in national newspapers for standing up against the Union government. It’s crazy how much of a publicity stunt their defiance is. The party is completely corrupt and hollow to the core. They have ties to drug mafia (Jaffer Sadiq), illegal river sand (4000+ cr. worth illegally mined in the past 2 years), bribery in infrastructure contracts and SO MUCH MORE. Even their criticism of how unconstitutional EB is completely hollow, considering how much money they received from the Lottery King! It’s such a pity that we don’t have a strong, united opposition to DMK in TN.
Likewise for the Muslim community there is Wakf Board that is also riddled with corruption in most states. It is an independent body in name only but funds are merrily siphoned off by Govt officers and ministers. Ideally the state should get out of regulating religion except its public order, morality and health implications.