Gods in God’s own country are in the news again as the government decided to take over a temple citing a High Court order. Amidst great tension and heavy police presence in Thrissur, the Malabar Devaswom Board took over the the administration of the Guruvayur Parthasarathy temple following allegations of corruption in temple management.

Responding to all the furore against the take over, state Minister for Devasom, Kadakampally Surendran, hit back claiming that the government does not take even a single penny from temples in Kerala. As reported by India Today, the minister said that all the donated money is utilised for the development of temples and to pay salaries of the employees.

BJP state president Kummanam Rajasekharan had expressed dissent and called the take over as ‘against religious freedom and rule violation’, as reported by Mathrubhumi. Dismissing the allegations and warning against attempts to communalise the issue, he called Rajashekaran’s campaign baseless.“The government is providing grant to the tune of crores of rupees to the temples that come under the board. The campaign that the government was trying to appropriate the temple fund is baseless,” he said, as quoted.

Our November edition addresses the issue of government control of temples. Read it here: Free Our Temples