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Kerala NRIs to PM: Leave temples for community

PTI | ByLalit K Jha (HindustanTimes.com), Minneapolis
Jul 08, 2005 05:02 PM IST

Kerala NRIs have launched a campaign to free the temples from the clutches of the State Govt, reports Lalit K Jha.

When Manmohan Singh arrives on his maiden trip to the U.S. as the Indian Prime Minister in less than 10 days from now; the Hindus of Kerala residing here have decided to present a memorandum pleading him to direct the State Government not to muddle in the affairs of temples in the State.

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"The memorandum to be submitted to the Prime Minister is our first step for our battle to remove the temples of Kerala from the clutches of the State Government, which is using the money generated from these temples for purposes other than the development of our places of worship," Anil Kumar Pillai, chairman of the Kerala Hindus of North America, told the HindustanTimes.com, in an interview.

The decision to submit the memorandum to Manmohan Singh was taken at the third bi-annual convention of the Kerala Hindus of North America held at Chicago over the past weekend.

Pillai said there are about four to five lakh Hindus from Kerala in North America and that they were very agitated the manner in which the State Government was treating temples. The memorandum, Pillai said is going to be based on a resolution passed by the members who attended the three-day convention.

Among other important resolutions passed by the Kerala Hindus of North America was the decision to set up a Parliament for Hindu religion with Hindu religious leaders from all over the globe, he said.

The organization would soon constitute a high power action council to initiate steps to set up a Hindu Parliament.

Pillai said it was time that the temples of the State were left for the community to run, operate and maintain. "It is not for the Government," he said alleging that the massive amount of money being collected by the Government from these temples were "often misused" for foreign tours of the leaders and bureaucrats and even for the purposes of other religions of the State.

As per the resolution, the Kerala Hindus of North America as the next step towards its objective to remove the clutches of the Government would help the State Hindus to go for an agitation. "We would also launch similar agitational movement all over the globe wherever Kerala Hindus are present," said another community leader.

He alleged that the government control of temples not only in Kerala, but also in other parts of India was an assault on Hindu. "It is anti-secular and amounts to suppression of Hindus right of religious freedom," he charged.

He alleged under the Kerala Land Reforms Act, 13,000 acres of Guruvayoor's land has been reduced to 230 acres. "The revenue of this Hindu entity is subject to misuse even loot by the state authorities," he alleged.

Pillai hoped that the Government would take expeditious measures to remove the temples from the clutches of the State Government and the money thus generated be utilized for the use of the Hindu community and not other religions or the bureaucracy.

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