Indian Hindu priests perform religious rituals at the Somnath temple
Indian Hindu priests perform religious rituals at the Somnath temple  
Culture

Why We Need To Free Hindu Temples From Government Control

BySwarajya Staff

Article 26 of the Indian Constitution provides people of all religions with the freedom to manage their religious institutions. However, Hindus do not enjoy this freedom enshrined in the country’s founding document.

Various state governments through their respective Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR & CE) Acts have assumed financial and management control of over a hundred thousand Hindu temples.

Freeing Hindu temples from state control

Blatant discrimination against Hindu temples has troubled a lot of people, especially the ones who believe in constitutional values. Many have voiced their concerns and some activists have started a campaign to free Hindu temples from the control of the state governments.

J. Sai Deepak, a lawyer in the Delhi High Court and the Supreme Court of India, was recently invited by Srijan foundation to give an informed talk on:

  • The Constitutional limits on states’ intervention in Hindu religious institutions.
  • The need to free Hindu religious institutions from the stranglehold of the Government.
  • The extent to which Courts have recognised and facilitated Statist intervention in Hindu religious institutions.
  • The alternative to State management of Hindu religious institutions.

You can watch the complete presentation here:

Why we need to free temples from government’s control?

The table below illustrates how and where the Hindu temples are discriminated against vis-a-vis institutions of other religions.

Here’s a video by Swarajya that explains the same.