Thread by @bigfundu

I received a message on WhatsApp recently:

"Govt of TN that had taken over the Nanganallur Anjaneyar Temple, today announced that they will return the temple management to the trustees. The Free TN Temples is already beginning to show early wins. (1/n)

This is a step in the right direction as devotees must manage temples and govt must stay out of it."

Why is this news a cause for celebration and what is the #FreeTNTemples effort?

There has been systematic exploitation & destruction of Tamilnadu’s temples for a while now.(2/n)

In many cases, the primary culprit is the HR&CE dept — Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments — which ironically is supposed to be taking care of the temples.

So, a few years back, some people started taking steps to free up Tamilnadu temples from the control of HR&CE. (3/n)

Now, Sadhguru is breathing fresh air into this with the #FreeTNTemples movement.

https://twitter.com/SadhguruJV/status/1364560533794381826?s=20

He feels that this election period in Tamilnadu is the right time to capture the attention of political parties for releasing temples from the clutches of Government. (4/n)

Why should Hindu temples be freed from HR&CE?

First of all, the Indian constitution declares the Republic of India as a secular democracy. By definition, this means no religion should interfere in Government and the Government should not interfere or control any Religion. (5/n)

So, there is a question of the constitutional validity of the Government controlling Hindu Temples.

No Church or Mosque is controlled by the State Governments  in India -  so why should Hindu temples alone be? (6/n)

More importantly, most people might not have cared if the temples were well maintained by the HR&CE. But that is not the case.

The state emblem of Tamilnadu is a temple. (7/n)

However, the mismanagement of temples has been so horrible that it might even trigger large-scale social protests if only the common public comes to know of the extent of this damage.

Right now, only those who know this are crying hoarse. (8/n)

The top categories of temple abuse are:

- No rituals & maintenance for temples
- Theft of idols and jewels in temples
- Encroachments & mismanagement of temple lands
- Archakas left in the lurch with no salary
- Poor experience for devotees & lack of facilities at temples (9/n)

My post on all this ... But only the surface of this issue has been scratched here and a lot more has to see the light of the day.

bigfundu.medium.com/freetntemples-…

#FreeTNTemples