[HPI note: This is relevant as a report of the government taking over temple facilities for administrative and bureaucratic purposes. Only Hindu houses of worship are subject to intervention in India, where all other faiths are free to manage their affairs.]
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, INDIA, May 1, 2012 (The Hindu): Tense scenes were witnessed near the Sreekanteshwaram temple on Monday after the activists of the Bharatiya Janata Party and some Hindu organisations blocked the officials of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) who had arrived at the temple for the inauguration of the counting station of the centralized counting system of temple offering box donations (kanikka).
The protesters blocked the TDB officials, including president M. Rajagopalan Nair and commissioner N. Vasu, in protest against the move to convert the temple wedding and annadanam hall into a permanent counting station of TDB.
The protesters said that the hall should not be converted into a counting station as it was the only facility available in the temple for conducting ‘Annadanam’ (mass feeding) during special occasions.
“Annadanam is an important part of most festivals when free food is provided to devotees. Many people from the weaker sections of society benefit from this. If there is no space to conduct ‘Annadanam’ on the temple premises, then it will become a deterrent for the organizers,” said BJP leader and Palkulangara councillor P. Ashok Kumar.
Following the protest, which went on for a few hours, TDB officials consented to construct a separate facility for organizing ‘Annadanam’ on the temple premises within three months.
“Centralized counting of kannika is a new initiative of TDB and a pilot project is being introduced in the district. We made it clear that this hall will be required as counting station. But we will definitely construct a new facility for Annadanam within three months,” commisioner Mr Vasu said.