‘Fate of Faith’- NIE Editorial and 3 Letters

Fate of faith

Editorial from www.newindpress.com

The Justice Paripoornan Commission report on all that is wrong at Sabarimala, Kerala’s famed hill shrine, can indeed make a difference if even 50 per cent of its 79 recommendations are imbibed in letter and spirit. But we prefer to stay on a realistic plane, at least until the first 10 suggestions are adopted and implemented; the rest can follow soon after. The foremost recommendation is the de-politicisation of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB), the governing body of more than 1200 temples in central and south Kerala. The TDB comes a close second in terms of being an entity in which positions are sought after. The various State-run PSUs, of course, lead the way. But the TDB is most coveted by political cronies who sport a tinge of spirituality on their sleeves. The functioning of this Board has always left much to be desired, and in the process has consistently raised more questions than answers. This much has been established by the findings of various inquiry commissions; and there have been as many as ten of them since 1950, almost one every decade. Yet, nothing seems to have changed. Surely, in the process of the various inquiries, the entire gamut of TDB operations, every aspect of it has been studied and scrutinised. Yet, most of the reports lie swathed in cobwebs while the plight of pilgrims continues unrelieved.

This edition of the Sabarimala pilgrimage best underlines the irrelevancy and meaninglessness of having an authority like the TDB. A non-VIP pilgrim has to stand in a queue for more than five hours to get a five-second darshan of Lord Ayyappa. The distribution of prasadam has gone haywire. And worse, the TDB has no solution. But the Justice Paripoornan Commission has listed 79 steps for the salvation of pilgrims. The Kerala Government must not waste a single minute in adopting the recommendations of the panel whose members — Justice B.M.Thulasidas and former CBI director D.R. Karthikeyan being the others — are of impeccable repute in the country.

It should be ensured that this report does not meet the same fate as previous ones, and that the cleansing ritual must be extended to all temples under the TDB as the evidence of political interference are quite visibly writ on their walls too. Co-operating with any exercise to purify the premises of all TDB temples where politics echoes louder than Vedic chants will be prove to be a valuable exercise.

Letter – 1: – Fate of Faith or Fate of God?

Sir

I refer to your editorial “Fate of faith”. The Justice Paripoornan Commission was constituted by the Kerala High Court based on a petition filed by one Ambalapuzha Radhakrishnan. The Commission comprising of personalities of impeccable integrity, had clearly stated that the Devaswaom Boards must get rid of Politics & Politicians, which would result in a transparent accounting & auditing of Temples and eradication of corruption & looting. The arrogance & apathy and the inefficiency & interference of the present Communist government with regards to the Temple Administration have come out glaringly in the open because of the untold hardship faced by the Sabarimala Devotees. The various roads (Coimbatore-Trichur belt, Madurai-Theni belt, Tenkasi belt, etc) leading to the shrine are in worst condition; hygiene is absolutely not there from Pamapa to the Shrine; hotels & restaurants are fleecing the devotees; the police force have been harassing the pilgrims; ‘aravana’ contract & supply has been totally mishandled; ‘Nei Abishegam’ for devotees was not organized properly; no proper mechanism for handling the ever increasing crowds.

The Communist government is concentrating only on influencing the Devaswom Boards, interfering in the traditional practices and customs & rituals in the name of secularism & modernization, diverting the Temple funds and looting the Temple properties. The flawless & meticulous mechanism shown in “collection” of funds from devotees & pilgrims is not shown in “giving them back” through arrangements & facilitations for a smooth pilgrimage and easy visits.

If the Travancore Devaswom Board is in such a bad shape, the Trivandrum Devaswom Board is still worse. The Kerala High Court has sought the TDB’s explanation for its inefficiency & corruption in the conduction of “Utsavams” in the 1200 plus Temples, which fall under its control. In the meantime, the Communist government is allegedly planning to take over the world famous Thiruvanbanthapuram Sri.Padmanabaswamy Temple, which has angered the millions of devotees & the Hindu majority.

The Atheist Government is bent upon removing the “God” from the “God’s own Country” and make it as a “Godless Country”.

Thanking You Sir,

Yours Sincerely
Anjanasudhan

Letter – 2: –

To: [email protected]

Hindus are struggling in Malaysia against muslim repression, are generally ‘dhimmis’ in Islamic nations, but the sad and bitter truth is that Hindus are suffering repression under the ostensibly ‘secular’ regimes in their own motherland, where they are arbitrarily denied the right to manage their own temple affairs and atheist politicians are mismanaging rich Hindu temples,looting the temple funds and properties and diverting temple funds for un-Hindu purposes, with an eye on votebanks.

The Justice Paripoornam Commission report should be published and the wrong done to Hindu devotees should be rectified by constituting a Committee comprising of devotees of known integrity and efficiency, under the supervision of Justice Bhaskaran, the Ombudsman appointed by the Kerala HC recently to oversee the functioning of the Devaswom Boards. The administration of temples in Kerala has been riddled with controversies, ever since the Marxists took control, perhaps with a secret agenda. Christists and Islamists joined the Marxist bandwagon to humiliate Hindus by triggering controversies in matters regarding temples and Hindu icons, just as they have been doing in other states like TN in collusion with the atheistic elements. The secular brigade, including the mass media, has been maintaining a studied indifference and abject callousness to the plight of Hindu devotees in general.

It is high time that Hindus were given the right to manage their own temples, just as Christians and Muslims are free to manage theirs, without any interference by the Govt. It should be remembered that it is the devotees who generate the temple funds, and it is they who should decide how to distribute the funds, since a lot of smaller temples are short of funds even for their daily rituals.Christians and Muslims are getting lot of funds from abroad to run their religious institutions. Let the ‘secular’ Govt maintain its secular status, instead of making a mockery of it!

Vijayalakshmi

Letter – 3:-

Sir

Your leader misses the forest for the trees. It is not a question of cleansing Kerala’s temples but cleansing India of the pseudo-secularism and rampant anti-Hinduism that is dominating our politics.

Hindu Temples in India are in the hands of crooked politicians of atheistic, Islamic and Christian brands – because it is sanctioned by Laws, Acts, Rules and Regulations. Hindu Temple properties and funds are systematically looted, embezzled, diverted for “secular” purposes officially as well as by Private Initiative of politicians. The State encourages this. Talking of “political cronies who sport a tinge of spirituality on their sleeves”, what about all those Nethas (nethis for female?) of half-catholic, half-muhammedan extraction and alien political and religious affiliations who go around sporting huge Vermilion marks on their foreheads? These people are “mlecchaas”, eaters of unclean food, with other unclean habits prohibited by hindus, but they invade Hindu Temples under cover of their Authority and cause untold hardships to the regular Hindu devotees; and not just in Sabarimala alone.

Worse still, if the Priests perform any mandatory purification rites they will be hit by the Media and by self-righteous “Liberal” and “Pluralistic” scoundrels.

Today’s Tamil Daily, Dinamalar, (page12) carries a news item that in Kerala the Government’s Academic Council has okayed a text book in which it has been stated that during Lord Rama’s 14-year Vanavaas Goddess Sita whiled away her time watching TV. We wonder what explanation the Eminent Historians and Academicians have for this. If Sita had TV, Rama certainly had enough savvy to build the Sethu. Ask for Curunanidhi’s comments.

The cross has been planted on 1 and 2 Re coins, and mendacious symbolistic-semiotic (semi-idiotic) interpretations have been put out.

Those thugs who start riots in India over Danish Cartoons but root for MF Hussin’s Freedom of (F)Art, and Soul Harvestors International are those who perpetrate these outrages against Hindus.

The State of the Nation is shown by the Fate of the (Hindu) faith.

K.Vijayan

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