Offstumped – Commentary on Indian Politics

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Politics and Public Policy in India

January 24, 2011 • 8:50 pm 12

Lal chowk, Tricolor and Twitter

    Latest status from Sushma Swaraj, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and BJP MP.
    Original Blog Post

Had originally decided against blogging on the BJP’s proposed march to Srinagar to hosit the tricolor at the infamous Lal Chowk on Republic Day (26th January).

What initially looked like a BJP youth wing attempt at garnering publicity

with questionable realpolitik behind it

#1 No incremental seats will be won in J&K on account of all this political energy expended, perhaps a marginal impact in Jammu and Ladakh.

#2 No electoral dividends elsewhere in India given how localized elections have become.

#3 This is also at best neutral to any long term solutions in kashmir at worst it is a net negative in the sense that positions harden and stalemate continues.

#4 From a Pakistan standpoint it is inconsequential, that country is anyway headed down the toilet

#5 So net net this massive political energy was being expended without the promise of proportional political gains. Surely there were low hanging fruits in Uttar Pradesh and elsewhere with similar or even less intensive political mobilization.

But that was before this drama that played out in Jammu airport. This issue has now assumed a different dimension altogether on account of the UPA’s highhandedness.

In closing it must be said that the Congress’ poor political management when it comes to handling crises has once again come to the fore. A far more clever move on the part of the Congress and the National Conference would have been to allow the BJP leaders to Srinagar while simultaneously detaining their foot soldiers thus reducing the proposed flag hoisting to a lack lustre non-event.

By unwittingly raising the political stakes on this the Congress has walked itself into the silly spectacle of detaining the Parliamentary Leadership of the Political Opposition rather than risk offending separatist sentiment.

26th January 2011 may be forgotten a week from now, but the broader message will remain that the Manmohan Singh-Sonia Gandhi regime will go to any lengths to not risk offending the separatists.

On a side note Twitter history was also made today:

Perhaps a sign of the times that much of our public discourse will get more real time and interactive on this often raucous medium albeit with a 140 character limit (which considering how verbose our politicians can get at times, is perhaps not a negative).

Filed under: amarnath controversy, betrayal of aam admi, UPA-II Critical Appraisal

August 18, 2010 • 11:43 pm 5

Laissez Faire for our Temples

“In God we Trust” may be the official motto of the United States, but when it comes to managing Hindu Temples, the official motto in India should perhaps be changed to “In Government we Trust“.

So how exactly did a so called “Secular State” come to administer the richest Hindu Temple ?

TTD was established in 1932 as a result of the TTD Act of 1932. According to the act, administration of the temple was vested to a committee of seven members and overseen by a paid commissioner as appointed by the Madras Government

While most modern accounts of the TTD’s management start with the 1932 Act, the reality however is that the British East India Company was controlling the Temple  management for more than a century before that having received control from the Nawabs of Arcot.

After the fall of the Hindu empires, the Tirumala and Tirupati temples came under the sway of the Nawabs of Arcot, and with the advent of the English, the management passed into the hands of the East India Company in 1801. Archival evidence shows that Lord Clive gave instructions to the Nawab of Arcot in 1800 in connection with the arrangements to be made for providing convenience to a dignitary who wished to go to Tirumala on a pilgrimage. The Mackenzie manuscripts of 1801 (Vol.XVI page 476-C) have recorded the boundaries of the seven hills, spread over 250 sq km. The Company managed the Tirumala temple under the well-defined rules contained in the Bruce Code drawn up in 1821 on the basis of previous usages and customs and did not interfere in its day-to-day affairs. In 1843, it transferred the management of the temple to the head of the Hathiramji Mutt, Tirupati, who managed its affairs until the Tirumala-Tirupati Devasthanams Act of 1932 was enacted.

The British Imperial Gazetteer in 1887 records that Tirpati had been the center of many struggles over the last century for posession of the considerable revenues from it. The Madras Handbook of 1850 mentions that North and South Arcot came under the control of the East India Company in 1801 and that included a 500 year old fiefdom granted for the exclusive protection of Tirupathi.

A detailed glimpse into the administration and management of Tirupati between 1801 and 1907 comes from this Law suit in the Madras High Court.  It also highlights that the malaise of misappropriation of Temples funds is more than two centuries old and so is this disgraceful precedent of Judicial and State interference in Temple affairs.

Post Independence State control of Tirupati was furthere solidified with the 1950s act

Madras Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Act (1951) superseded the 1932 act and sections 80 to 85 of the act were devoted to administration of TTD. Section 80 laid that a Board of Trustees consisting of five members as appointed by the Madras state government will look after TTD with the members holding office for five years. The act provided for the appointment of an Executive Officer (EO) who would be responsible for the properties and operations of TTD

In the 1960s further ammendments were made paving the way for direct political interference

Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institution and Endowments Act (1969) superseded the 1951 act with section 85 to 91 laying the provisions for TTD. Board of Trustees was expanded from five to eleven (11) with compulsory representation from certain communities. Three members from state legislative assembly, one person belonging to the scheduled castes and one woman member was made mandatory in the board of eleven whose term was fixed at three years. AP government was mandated with the appointment of EO and Deputy EO (DEO).

Three more ammendments followed in 1979, 1987 and 2006 all highlighting how Temple management was now at the mercy of state politics. Perhaps the most disgraceful acts of interference was the Office of Profit Constitutional Ammendment from 2006 that institutionalized the current practice of appointing Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly as Chairperson of the TTD.

The current malaise afflicitng the TTD has been quite extensively reported on lack of accountability, misappropriation of funds, missing jewels and poor administration. The lack of transparency in the process of appointing TTD Chairperson deepens the political intrigue surrounding that office.

It is a shame that 63 years after Independence, the so called ”secular  State” continues to run Hindu Temples by proxy. It is a reflection on the all pervasive twisted Left Liberal mindset that there is a  total political consensus on the “secular” State controlling richest Hindu Temple. It is also a commentary on the average Hindu worshipper of Tirumala that he or she reposes more faith in the Government than in God that they trust corrupt bureaucrats and opportunistic politicians more than fellow Hindus in running the Temple affairs.

It is a shame that so called Hindu Organizations like the VHP have done little to nothing on lobbying to end this practice of political and state interference. In fact their recent conduct from the decade gone by has been to encourage the opposite with the clamour for Parliament to legislate the building of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. Part of the problem lies with the Hindu Organizations themselves who are barely transparent about their own affairs and can hardly be called representative bodies. It is anybody’s guess who Ashok Singhal is accountable to.

 It is ironical that the Ayodhya movement is described as a high point of Hindu Consciousness when Hindus continue to be unaware of where their enlightened self interest lies. If anything the Ayodhya movement was a juvenile expression of unresolved emotions. True Hindu Consciousness would be when Hindus start to trust each other more than they trust corrupt bureaucrats and opportunist politicians to manage their own Institutions.

In closing let it be said there is only one Hindu cause worth espousing and it is to free Temples like TTD from government and State control. The rest is mere political gimmickry. If given a choice between the State relinquishing control of TTD and Hindus relinquishing a political claim over the disputed structure in Ayodhya, in choosing the former is where a Hindu’s enlightened self interest lies.

Related tweets:

bagdu @offstumped for all its faults,Sikhs have got a democratic form to govern their relegious institutions that works,why not same for Hindus?

bagdu @offstumped pol interference or no,Men of God are not that holy either,its a complex issue:liberating the diety from its watchmen

NR_Tatvamasi @nharipra @offstumped and thats where malabar model seems to be headed

NR_Tatvamasi @nharipra @offstumped but rest needs to be maintained by local committees, with apex body overseeing for violation/external influence

NR_Tatvamasi @nharipra @offstumped IN TN Adheenam mutts run a host of temples in delta dists, pretty well maintained despite the money needed

NR_Tatvamasi @offstumped hindu has more details. vigilance has submitted report naming 55,6DY EO,3 board members, besides two for hacking computers

nharipra @NR_Tatvamasi @offstumped, to an extent Udupi temple adm is free from Govt control, the 8 mutts run the temple. Running well, consequently

NR_Tatvamasi @offstumped malabar people have formed an apex committee of all local committess to oppose takeover by new malabar devaswom

 NR_Tatvamasi @offstumped surprisingly no movement in karnataka. @Swamy39 has filed a case in SC on temple control

NR_Tatvamasi @offstumped there is movement in ap, kerala. last huge convention was held in kerala, local people are taking on malabar devaswom

shrirangster @offstumped Bigger Hindu cause would be fighting caste based atrocities and discriminations. VHP is found doing little on this too

rishikalia @offstumped : A Hindu temple committee would help in rekindling our society & faith

rishikalia @offstumped : We need on organisation like SGPC to manage Hindu temples. 

Behold the secular State http://j.mp/byAND5 how many know there are Government aided mosques ? (forget paying the imam’s salaries)

Make no mistake the Sonia Rahul Gandhi Congress is equally complicit in this Competitive Communalism http://j.mp/9h7c4s

If there are government aides mosques and we are going to pay Imam’s salaries we should get to legislate what kind of Islam is practiced ?

On govt aided mosques Rt “@cbcnn_Pilid: @offstumped I believe this is the 1993 judgement referred to: http://indiankanoon.org/doc/1929233/”

Having read 1993 Supreme Court judgement on Imams salaries it is clear there is a grand Left Lib consensus between Courts and politicians

On one hand Secular State of India controls the richest Hindu Temple and on the other it subsidizes Islam – makes you feel so “progressive”

And this is the “Nehruvian Secularism” that Ramachandra Guha and @ShashiTharoor can’t stop gushing about – such intellectual dishonesty

Filed under: amarnath controversy, betrayal of aam admi, Narendra Modi, Nitin Gadkari, UPA-II Critical Appraisal

February 6, 2010 • 10:21 pm 9

Open Letter to Rahul Gandhi

Dear Rahul

Thanks for the brave trip to unchartered territory in the badlands of Mumbai.

Thanks also for letting us in on a little secret that you don’t carry enough pocket change like the rest of us Aam Admi.

We are told reliably by the “liberal” media that God has been thanked after you succesfully derailed the Sena.

We hope we can call on your services everytime a Sena is a nuisance anywhere to the rest of us Indians.

In fact up North there is such a Sena though they don’t quite label themselves with Sanskrit words. Nevertheless they are no less parochial.

We need you to pay a visit to your good friend Omar Abdullah even if it is not in a 2nd class train compartment.

We need you to go down there and tell them that 99% of Indians believe Kashmir is for all Indians.

We need you to tell them about the economic success story called India that they are missing out by protecting this wall called Article 370.

Don’t despair you don’t have to make this trip alone we are also asking Nitin Gadkari to keep you company. You also won’t have to bother finding an ATM in Srinagar pretty sure Mr. Gadkari carries enough pocket change.

So we are hoping you wouldn’t disappoint us and will definitely make this trip to Srinagar to call for scrapping Article 370.

Yours Sincerely
An Aam Admi

Filed under: amarnath controversy, DesiPundit, Nitin Gadkari

April 4, 2009 • 12:31 am 3

India Elections 2009 – BJP Manifesto

Now that both the BJP and Congress Manifestoes have been made public the public debate can shift from personalities to issues.

It is clear that elections 2009 will not see a definitive fault-line along straight-jacket political ideologies typical of Western Democracies.

But then it is a curious year to be complaining about it for the Global Economic Meltdown has rendered these straight-jacket labels largely irrelevant with the trillion dollar bailouts.

So how must we bring sanity to this Manifesto Madness debate within the Indian context ?

We can do so by first recognizing  the present day political reality.

What we have in India are essentially Center Left leaning and Center Right  leaning “Minority Coalitions”.

Compounding this reality is the fact that these “Minority Coalitions” have to make further “pportunistic compromises” to close the gap to the half-way mark which gets them a simple majority.

Hence to judge these Minority Manifestoes on the basis of hard ideological definitions is foolish.

Instead we must judge them on the basis of the cost at which they will make opportunistic compromises and on the basis of that which will not be compromised.

More detailed analysis is bound to follow over the days to come from experts on the financial implications and the relative merits of the two manifestoes, it is clear that there is a fundamental difference between the Congress and the BJP’s approach.

Where the Congress seeks to tax and spend, the BJP has clearly staked itself for a low tax regime.

On entitlements too one can see subtle differences like when the BJP promises 35kgs of subsidised rice or wheat at Rs 2 for BPL Families it is not doing so at the expense of an enlarged and flawed Public Distribution System but by making a beginning on Direct Delivery of Entitlements via Food Coupons that will be redeemable at both PDS and Private Outlet.

Similarly Bicycle handout program is tied to Girl Child School Enrollment.

On education while promising entitlements at the primary and secondary level, the BJP has also subtly differentiated itself on the the question of full autonomy to Institutions of Higher Education with an emphasis on the Private Sector.

Freedom and Autonomy make a come back again on the question of Science and Technology Research by Academic and Research Organizations and on the question of Financial Autonomy to Panchayats and Urban Local Bodies.

In closing if there is one proposal that stands out in the BJP Manifesto it is the proposal to free Hindu Religious bodies from Government Control.

It is a travesty of Indian Democracy that an avowedly Secular State has resorted to Constitutional Ammendments to ensure Government control of Religious bodies like the Tirumala Tirupathi Devasthanam.

From Sabarimalai to Tamil New Year, there have been numerous instances of the tyranny of State Control on the functioning of Hindu Temples and Religious bodies.

By promising to revert control to the stakeholders of these Institutions amongst the devotees and local communities, the BJP proposal will uphold true secularism and religious freedom.

This proposal could also provide a framework for resolving contentious issues like Ram Janmabhoomi and Amarnath.

As coalition politics continues to make party manifestoes largely inconsequential it will be important to see how the NDA’s National Agenda for Governance and Vision for the Country will reflect the Centre-Right leaning proposals in the BJP Manifesto and go beyond them on the question of Economic Reforms, Privatization and Disinvestment.

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Filed under: amarnath controversy, betrayal of aam admi, Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Chhattisgarh Polls 2008, Delhi Polls 2008, DesiPundit, Dharmayudh-2009, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, jeetega-bharat, Karnataka Polls 2008, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Rajasthan Polls 2008

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