Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday clarified that the proposed law is aimed at freeing Hindu temples from the government control, as the Congress accused the ruling BJP of planning to sell or hand over them to party cadres.
With plans to free Hindu temples from state control, the Chief Minister earlier this week had announced that his government will bring in a law aimed at freeing temples from laws and rules that control them at present.
"....we are not handing over temples to anyone, we are only freeing them from the government regimen," Mr Bommai told reporters in response to a question.
"It is clear that D K Shivakumar's (state Congress chief) views on Hindu temples are against the feelings of the Hindu worshipers and temple goers," he said.
Expressing Congress' opposition to the proposed law, its state president Mr Shivakumar on Friday accused the BJP government of trying to hand over Hindu temples to its workers.
"Most of the temples in the state are run under the government's administration, devotees put crores of rupees of money in donation boxes at these temples, many of the them even have properties that have come from a number of years. They are going to hand them over to their (BJP) workers," he said.
"We too are Hindus, who believe in our religion and culture...they (BJP) are trying to push their agenda by raising emotive issues, we will not allow it. I'm telling the Chief Minister to leave aside his false illusions that they will get votes by doing such things," he added.
Further asking the government not to meddle with the system in which the temples have been running for years, Mr Shivakumar said, "or else, you (BJP) will burn out. We are not anti-Hindu, it is you. Hindu temples are not your property, it is the property of the people of this state."
"How cruel...you (BJP) are trying to sell gods and temples," he said, adding that the Congress will not allow it, and that he has called a meeting of senior party leaders on January 4, during which they will come out with a clear stand on the issue.
The Chief Minister's announcement to bring in a law to free Hindu temples from state control is seen as another major move by the BJP government after the contentious "Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021," popularly known as the 'anti-conversion bill', that is yet to be passed by the legislative council to become a law.
A total of 34,563 temples in the state come under Muzrai (Hindu religious endowment) department, and they have been categorised as grade A, B and C, based on their revenue generation.
A total of 207 temples with annual revenue above Rs 25 lakh come under category A, 139 temples between Rs five lakh to Rs 25 lakh come under category B, and 34,217 temples with less than Rs 5 lakh annual revenue under category C.
It has been a long-standing demand from several Hindu organisations including the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) that temples should be freed from government control and they be handed over to the Hindu society.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
