Minister denies propaganda about Kerala temple funds

Kerala Temple Affairs Minister V S Sivakumar has denied Hindu Ezhava leader Vellappally Natesan's charge that the state government was 'grabbing' the temple funds.
Responding to a submission from V D Satheeshan of the Congress in the assembly on Monday, the minister said that the government was on the contrary providing funds from the treasury to the temples. He said that the government had neither taken nor borrowed any funds from the temple boards.
Quoting statistics, Sivakumar said that the government had provided Rs2.32 billion to three temple boards administering temples in the state since the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) came to power in May 2011. This included Rs600 million the government has spent on the security for the Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, which sits over treasures worth billion. The treasures found in five of the six secret vaults in the temple opened in 2012 alone are worth about Rs1 trillion, which is three times the annual budget size of the state.
Despite being one of the richest temples in the world, the state government has been meeting the cost of the security to the temple. Similarly, the Travancore Devaswom Board that controls the famed Sabarimala hill shrine that earns more than Rs1 billion during season was given Rs1.06 billion during the last four years.
Natesan had levelled this allegation throughout his 'Samthawa Munnetta Yatra' he undertook from Kasargod to Trivandrum with the objective of bringing Hindus under one umbrella to show that the state government was discriminating against majority community. He even accused the government of using these funds for the benefit of minorities.
Earlier moving the submission, Satheeshan said that the allegations made by Natesan were part of the propaganda being made by the Sangh Parivar to create a communal division in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party and its feeder organisations have been alleging that the government was supporting mosques and churches and taking away temple funds. Former temple affairs minister G Sudhakaran said that he had personally convinced Hindu leaders, including Hindu Aikya Vedi convenor Kummanam Rajashekharan, that their propaganda was wrong.
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He said that it was not legally possible for the government to take funds from the temple boards.
Despite this, the Sangh Parivar is repeating their allegations to create a wedge between majority and minority communities in the state, said Sudhakaran, who belongs to the opposition Communist Party of India (Marxist).
Congress leaders said Natesan was carrying out the Sangh Parivar propaganda to justify his move to forge a political alliance with the BJP. They warned that he may have to pay a heavy price if he destroys the communal harmony prevailing in the state for his narrow gains. - news@khaleejtimes.com

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