New Delhi, India - The VHP today threatened to launch an agitation against the government's reported move to acquire all temples.
"It was recently reported in the newspapers that the UPA government has made a proposal to a parliamentary standing committee that all temples be acquired by the government. Any such move will be a direct attack on Hindu religion," VHP working president Ashok Singhal told reporters here.
He also claimed that the government was planning to impose tax on the earnings of temples and charitable institutions and said "this is a conspiracy to destroy Hindu institutions." "Today, around 34,000 temples in Andhra Pradesh are under government control and a law has even been enacted to make possible auctioning off of the temple land. The temple priests are being paid measly salaries, which is not enough for sustenance," he claimed.
He alleged that the Governments of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where the temples are under state control, were "misappropriating" the temple money.
Singhal said this issue alongwith that of Ram temple would be on top of the agenda for discussions at a meeting of Hindu religious leaders being organised by the VHP in Haridwar on June 14 and 15. PTI