Published On: Thu, Mar 17th, 2022

Actor Turned Politician Pawan Kalyan Raises Calls to Free Hindu Temples

Pawan Kalyan is a famous Telugu actor who is the current president of the Jana Sena Party in Andhra Pradesh. He has been very vocal about issues facing the Hindu community and has heavily criticized his opposition for exerting more government control of Hindu temples while places of worship for other religious groups are left untouched and autonomous, free from any government control.

There has been an alarming rise of attacks against Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh just within the last year alone and Hindus in the state are getting worried about their future if this trend continues. Hindu temples are wrongfully controlled by the government which has left many ancient Hindu temples in disrepair. 

There is no proper maintenance of Hindu temples due to government negligence and the ancient structures get ruined because of it. The government receives temple funds as part of its temple maintenance purposes but the funds are never seen materialized in actually upkeeping the temple. Hindu devotees donate their hard-earned wealth to the temples but the government is the decision-maker in how the temples are run and what constitutes appropriate usage of funds.

Apart from the overt negligence, much of the temple funds are taxed by the government and many of the funds are also misappropriated and misused for personal gains and endeavors not related to temple expenses. There is a heavy element of corruption and mismanagement of funds as Hindu temples generate plenty of wealth. The goal of this wealth generation is to maintain and upgrade the temple ecosystem and expand their outreach in society but the reality is far from that. 

The purpose of a temple ecosystem is to provide spiritual services and support to the surrounding community/town but many of today’s Hindu temples are seen to be devoid of the traditions and adequate infrastructure to expand their services and life-positive message in society. As a result, the next generation of Hindus does not feel inspired to continue on the legacy of the ancient Hindu temple ecosystems and feel distant from Hinduism at large.

The government control of temples is one of the biggest harms done to the Hindu ecosystem as temples are the foundation of keeping the Hindu traditions alive. The overarching reach of the government into the management of hindu temples while places of worship for other religions are left autonomous and untouched is the height of discriminaition on the basis of religion. It is time India as a whole nation decide to end this discriminatory policy of controlling Hindu temples and liberate the temples once and for all. Hindus are more than capable of managing and handling our own temples. We have clear guidelines in our scriptures as to who has the authority to make decisions related to the temples.