Why only BJP states are freeing Hindu Temples from State Control and not Opposition ruled states?
On Saturday Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan who comes from Bhartiya Janta Party announced that the state government is stepping back and will not not controlling any activities of temples. Addressing an event in Bhopal on Parshuram Jayanti, the chief minister said, “We have decided that the government will not have any control over the activities of the temples and the auction of temple land will be done by priests and not by collectors.”
Also on 4th of March 2021 Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Somappa Bommai in his budget speech put an end to government control of Hindu temples and announced giving autonomy to all hindu temples in the state. There is a long pending demand to do away with the government control on the temples, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said in his budget speech. According to Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Department website, there are 34,558 temples in the state under government regulation and they fall under categories A, B and C. Chief minister in his speech said “By considering these demands of devotees, autonomy will be given to temples coming under the purview of Endowment department and necessary legal action will be taken to delegate the discretion of developmental works to the temples.” It must be noted that now only Hindu temples were under state control and therefore constant demands were made by Hindus to free Hindu temples from state control.
Also a wave of happiness ran over Hindus last year after the Government of Uttarakhand led by Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami decided to take back the Char Dham Devasthanam Management Board Bill. The state government of Uttrakhand had tabled the Uttarakhand Char Dham Shrine Management Bill, 2019, in the state Assembly in December 2019 amid protests within and outside the Vidhan Sabha. The protests were also carried out by the hard core voters and supporters of BJP against the bill. Hindus were not very happy with the bill because it takes the control of the temples from the Hindus and give it to the state. The Bill was aimed at bringing the Char Dham of Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri and 49 other temples under the purview of a proposed shrine board. It should be noted that no other institution other than Hindu religious institution that is temples are under state control. Mosques, Churches and Gurudwaras don’t come under state control but only Mandir have to go through the process and laughingly Bharat is termed as a secular country. The Chief Minister of Uttrakhand, Pushkar Singh Dhami
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