Hectic parlays are underway in the poll-bound state of Telangana which will cast the ballot on 30th November. Politics has been at its peak what with the occasional sensational war of words generally launched by Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR) against the BJP and PM Modi ever since he officially made public his sentiments to become the next Prime Minister of India when he renamed his party, Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) to Bharat Rashtra Samiti (BRS).
It is perhaps this desperation that has made BRS a party dedicated to the cause of minority appeasement politics while simultaneously hurting Hindu sentiments. It was therefore surprising when in September, the Telangana Finance Minister reportedly asserted that KCR was a genuine Hindu and his efforts to develop temples in the State proved this. But the ground reality tells an entirely different story.
In March this year, the Telangana High Court sought a response from the state government on reasons for encroachment on temple lands by realtors. The petition, filed on the basis of a letter by a resident of Jadcherla, C Anil Kumar, was filed along with local new reports that mentioned that 102.05-acre land belonging to the Venkateswara Swamy temple in Jadcherla was illegally occupied whereas private realtors had taken over 63.03-acre land.
Moreover, the petitioner submitted that land measuring 44-acre belonging to the Anjaneya Swamy temple of Chinna Rajamure area in Devarakadra Mandal was infringed upon. It was also alleged that the realtors were supported by local politicians with the connivance of revenue officials to convert temple land into layouts and plots for sale.
A public interest litigation (PIL) was reportedly filed recently based on a communication addressed to the court by the Chairman of Pragna Bharati, Dr TH Chowdary raising concerns about the management and administration of Hindu temples under state control. The PIL was disposed of by the Telangana High Court in October.
According to Dr Chowdary, Hindu temples controlled by the government in Telangana were headed by converts to Christianity and the several members of the temple boards lacked merit. However, the government filed a counter affidavit claiming that of the 243 temples in Secunderabad, 199 are under the control of the Endowment Department and that none of the temples were headed by non-Hindus.
In July, the Rashtriya Vanara Sena Mission, which works to safeguard temples across the country, reportedly cited government data alleging that more than 23 per cent of temple lands (20,124.03 acres of 87,235.39 acres) is encroached upon. But, they claimed, their review of the audit records showed a much higher area that was encroached upon.
“According to official data, more than 23 per cent (20,124.03 acres out of 87,235.39 acres) of temple lands have been encroached upon. However, upon reviewing the audit records of 19 temples, we discovered that almost 80 per cent (6,343 acres out of 7,976 acres) of these temples have encroached,” said N Ram Reddy, president of Rashtriya Vanara Sena Mission.
It was further alleged that under the orders of CM KCR and his son KT Rama Rao, many temple lands were sold off to repay debts and allocated temple lands for non-Hindu purposes.
Exactly a year ago, in November 2022, a committee formed by the Telangana government found that the Sri Seetha Ramachandra Swamy temple land parcel at Devarayamjal village in Shamirpet mandal had concluded that the temple land was encroached upon and illegal sale transactions had also taken place over the years. Times of India quoted sources as saying that of the 1,521 acres of land being claimed by the endowment department, about 1,350 acres was under the grip of alleged land grabbers.
The finding was submitted by the committee which was tasked with probing into the land temple-grabbing case owing to allegations against former minister Eatala Rajender. The ACB and Vigiland officials probing the case confirmed the fraudulent transfer of 100 acres from endowment lands to others through 35 registrations over a period of four years.
The case of Sri Seetha Ramchandra Swamy temple
The size of the land of Sri Sita Ramachandra Swamy temple in Bhadrachalam has been waning for nearly a century now. The land reportedly spanned around 1,250 acres and is situated in Khammam district of Telangana and the remaining in East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur and Prakasam districts of Andhra Pradesh.
Around 910 acres of this land is situated at Purushothapatnam near Bhadrachalam town. This land was donated to the temple by a devotee in October 1978. In 1998, 27.5 acres of this land were sold to some institutions including the tobacco board and finally, the temple was left with 889.50 acres of land.
A major part of this land measuring 722 acres came under cultivation by local farmers owing to which a the temple authorities had to fight a legal battle. Consequently, the farmers began paying a nominal lease amount in 2005 but a few years after the formation of Telangana, the situation had come to square one.
“Though the lease amount was very less – around ₹3,300 per acre – we allowed them to continue cultivation, as the lands still belonged to the temple trust board as per the documents. But the land sharks eyed the precious lands, whose value now run into crores of rupees due to proximity to Bhadrachalam town. They are now trying to start real estate ventures in the temple lands. We are struggling to protect them,” Bhadrachalam temple executive officer B Shivaji told Hindustan Times in July 2022.
This is the same temple which, in 2020, was out of funds to organise the traditional ‘Seetha Rama Kalyanam’, the celestial wedding of Mata Sita with Shri Ram Chandra, and had to sell tickets to fund the divine celebration.
Now these are all developments from this year and the year 2022 even when in 2021, reports suggested that the Telangana government is working towards introducing strict laws on endowment lands in order to retrieve encroached temple lands and prevent future encroachments.
But what has happened in the past two years subsequent to the encroachment was nowhere near in line with the KCR government’s assurances. Moreover, Hindus rights and religious sentiments have only been mocked.
In April this year, an FIR reportedly registered against pastor Mr Gandham Arun Kumar and others for conducting Christian prayers inside a Hindu temple in Warangal, Telangana.
The matter pertains to Christians conducting prayers in a Hindu temple constructed by the Kakatiya dynasty in Fort Warangal, a video of which had gone viral on social media, drawing outrage from several quarters on the internet. The temple is reportedly under the control of the Archeological Department and being administered by the Telangana Endowments Department.
The local Hindu community was concerned after learning about the large-scale prayers being held directly in front of Ramalayam and Swayambu Ramalingashwara Swamy temple near Gundu Cheruvu.
The endowment department in September 2022 issued an order to three temples to contribute ₹1 crore each for the construction of three floors of the Warangal endowment office. This order was given by the additional commissioner of endowment, E Srinivas Rao.
The order was issued to the Bhadrakali Temple in Warangal, the Seetharamachandra Swamy Temple in Kazipet Town’s Madikonda village, and the Medaram village in Mulugu district’s Sammakka-Saralamma Jatara organisers.
Nearly 20,124.08 acres of endowment land were under encroachment in the state as of June 2019. The encroachments have happened as the lessees are taking the temple lands at throwaway prices and in turn, they had given them on sub-lease at market prices, which has also resulted in huge revenue loss to the Endowments department.
The Telangana government back then reportedly decided to take action against illegal occupants of large tracts of temple lands. Telangana Endowments Minister, A Indra Karan Reddy, directed the officials to act against encroachers and evict them from the state lands.
Another report from April 2019 claimed that more than 24,000 acres of temple land, constituting 25 per cent of 87,000 acres of endowment land in the state, was encroached. The encroached land was reportedly double the size of Cyberabad.
The report cited data shared by endowments department which stated that the Nalgonda district had lost 3,500 acres to encroachers and about 2,200 acres were lost in Hyderabad and nearly 1,800 acres were with land grabbers in Ranga Reddy district. Of the total encroachments, 16,000 acres were already registered in the names of private persons.
It is more than clear that the matter of temple land grabbing has essentially eaten into the assets that sustain the Hindu culture, tradition and rituals and by extension, the Hindu faith. These are matters waiting to be resolved even as large scale temple land grabbing continues in Telangana. Alas, the government has other land matters to cater to, that of the Waqf land.
Just two days ago, on 15th November, KCR said that his government would develop IT clusters for young men and women from minority communities if voted to power. While addressing the crowd in Nizamabad, the BRS chief said that the state had been thinking about this for some time and would take permission from the Waqf board for the same.
Ironically, in the same speech, KCR urged both Hindus and Muslims to work together for the development of Telangana while he conveniently held discussions about state projects with Waqf. And still, KCR kept appeasing as he pointed out that Telangana is the only state that officially organised EId for Muslims and Christmas for Christians.
In September 2020, the Telangana government was reportedly contemplating on extending judicial powers to Waqf Board. The Minority Welfare Minister Koppula Eshwar said that the issue of granting judicial status to Waqf Board will be soon considered by the Chief Minister.
This promise has been made by KCR to the Muslim community several times and should he decide to stand by his words, the Waqf Board would essentially have the power to evict encroachers from its properties without having to take the legal route.
In July 2020, KCR announced that his government would construct new mosques in place of those demolished by the Hyderabad civic body in the new secretariat premises at government expense after Muslim clerics and AIMIM protested the demolition of two mosques at the old Secretariat complex. The demolition was done to make way for the new secretariat in Telangana.
Issue raised by PM Modi
On 3rd October, PM Modi, while addressing a rally in Telangana’s Nizamabad remarked that the state government had captured the temples and that the temples were being looted through a conspiracy involving governments. He pointed that this was particularly the case in DMK-ruled Tamil Nadu.
“In the south, especially in Tamil Nadu, the state government has control of temples. The state government has captured temples. The temples are being looted through a conspiracy involving governments. Temples are being looted. Temples are being captured. But they will not touch the worship places of minorities. They don’t bring them under government control,” he was quoted as saying.
Moreover, with the BRS making promises to the likes of Waqf and the Congress allying with IUML, its existing partner in Kerala, PM Modi’s statement on the state of temples in Telangana and Tamil Nadu has given the subject much-needed attention this election season.
