8

Oct

VHP Campaign On Hindu Temples: Is It More Than What Meets The Eye?

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Dr Satish Misra

New Delhi | Tuesday | 8 October 2024

In an obvious though camouflaged move to control the enormous temple wealth in the country, the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has launched a campaign to "free temples" from government control alleging corruption in the management of religious places.

With the RSS blessings the VHP campaign will certainly embarrass the Modi Government in the Centre at this juncture when a Joint Parliamentary Committee is engaged in discussing proposed amendments to the Waqf Act, 1995 aimed at regulating Waqf properties run by a board away from executive oversight and a role for the government.       

Since the RSS and its chief Mohan Bhagwat have given enough indications in the recent past that they are not happy with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and would like him to be replaced, the saffron outfit will not mind if the VHP campaign embarrasses Modi's government. Reported efforts to install Modi’s arch-rival Sanjay Joshi as the BJP president in place of the present chief J P Nadda is yet another indication that all is not well between the RSS and the Prime Minister.  

Knowing the ways the RSS functions it could even be the brain behind the VHP campaign.

 

Article at a Glance
The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has launched a campaign to "free temples" from government control, alleging corruption in the management of religious places. The campaign, backed by the RSS, aims to embarrass the Modi government and gain control over the enormous temple wealth in the country.
The VHP claims that government control of temples is a reflection of the colonial mindset and that Hindu money should be used for Hindu causes. The campaign will involve protest rallies in state capitals, followed by legal steps and potentially a movement.
The RSS is using the VHP to further its own agenda, which includes gaining financial resources and emotional sway to exercise political power. The campaign is seen as a test of the waters, with the RSS likely to fine-tune its strategy based on the popular response.

 

The RSS will be happy if it gets a handle on controlling the prosperous Hindu shrines as this would provide it with both financial resources and emotional sway to exercise political power which it has always done by projecting a proxy ---  first the Jan Sangh and now the BJP.

Since Prime Minister Modi has amply proved that corruption is the best tool to hit someone and get control of a situation little wonder the VHP has decided to use the same strategy to allege corruption in government control over the temples.

VHP joint general secretary Surendra Jain, while launching the movement, claimed that the government’s control of temples is a reflection of the mindset of “Muslim” invaders and “colonial” British.

“It appears there is a pattern. Muslim invaders destroyed temples and looted them. The British were smarter and took control of the temples. This way, they established an institutional system to loot the temples. Unfortunately, despite independence, our politicians could not free themselves of this colonial mindset. The government taking control of temples is the reflection of the same mindset. This loot must end now. Our slogan is Hindu money for Hindu cause”. Jain asserted.

Coincidently the launch has an ideal background too because it has been timed in the backdrop of the alleged adulteration with the animal fat, of the ghee used to prepare the ‘prasadm’ or hold offerings, at the Venkateswara temple in Andhra Pradesh’s Tirupati. The announcement came a day after the VHP held a conference of seers in Tirupati. 

As the first step in the campaign, the Hindu Parishad is going to hold protest rallies in all state capitals to create a conducive environment to attract unemployed Hindu youth for the cause with the slogan “Hindu money for Hindu cause”. The protest rallies will end with the submission of memorandums to chief ministers. “Subsequently, legal steps will be initiated which means cases in the court of law. “If this does not suffice, then we could even launch a movement in the future”, the VHP said.

Many of us, who extensively reported the Ramjanmbhoomi temple movement that culminated in the destruction of the ancient Babri mosque structure on 6 December 1992, will recollect that words and tone sound familiar.           

The RSS has been toiling hard for many decades to find feats in southern states particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Kerala where its political outfit-the BJP- has been unable to gain electoral strength to come to power.

The VHP is only implementing the RSS’s carefully crafted strategy as it successfully did in north India through the Ram temple movement.        

The RSS has felt the need to start the free temples from government control as Modi’s image in public perception has begun to wane as was evident during the last general elections in which the BJP failed to get a clear majority despite massive resources and an effective control on country’s electoral system.

Sangh’s widespread feedback system from the grassroots, according to RSS insiders, has indicated that the BJP is losing assembly elections in Haryana and its prospects of returning to power in Maharashtra and wresting power in Jharkhand too are not very promising. In J& K assembly elections too, it is most unlikely that the BJP would form government there though established political parties like NCP and PDP may not emerge as winners.   

In Delhi too, despite its victory in the seven Lok Sabha seats, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal led Aam Admi Party is a force to reckon with and it will not be easy to defeat it in the next year’s assembly elections. 

With the launch of ‘Free Temple from government control’, the RSS is merely testing the waters and after it gets feedback on the popular response, necessary corrections would be made to fine-tune its strategy.

It remains to be seen how the regional parties like DMK, and TDP in their respective turfs and the Congress nationally counter the RSS campaign that is aimed at deconstructing the Idea of India eventually leading to its dismantlement.

Evidence of corruption and massive exploitation that goes on in privately controlled Maths and Ashrams across the country by so-called saints and fake Babas are not hidden from public eyes.

While any corruption in the government-controlled temples can be exposed by the media and tried in a court of law, many illegal acts in such Ashrams largely go unnoticed and unpunished.

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