Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

VHP for ban on sale of temple land

By Our Special Correspondent

VISAKHAPATNAM NOV. 12. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) has sought a total ban on sale of temple lands in A.P. Talking to reporters here on Wednesday, the international working president of VHP, Ashok Singhal, said there was certain things pertaining only to Hindus but the Government took over most of the temples in the State and with it the properties attached to it. "The total revenue including the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) amounts to Rs. 100 crores or more every year and half of it comes from the TTD alone. Actually, all these temples were built by the Hindus and all temple lands, property attached to temples belong to Hindus," he stated and appealed to the Chandrababu Naidu Government not to sell temple lands.

Saying that he had heard that the Government was selling 85,000 acres or so of temple lands, he felt people had the right to know why it was being sold. "The Government does not have any right to sell. Total ban should be put hereafter that no property of temples anywhere is sold to anyone," he said. Mr. Singhal noted that large tracts of land were being given away to the landless from these lands, and opined that temples should be in the hands of national religious leaders.

Alleging that large-scale conversions to Christianity were now going on in coastal Andhra, he called for a law banning conversions. He accused the AICC president, Sonia Gandhi, of trying to have Christian Chief Ministers everywhere and alleged that there was a move to create a Christian homeland in Assam, Maharashtra and Gujarat. "Missionaries are creating havoc in these States with outfits like the People's War forming the nexus between the Christian and Muslim organisations and the ISI." He feared that the insurgency inside Nepal would soon enter India, particularly Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal, with the Maoist movement expanding.

He called for curbs on all these organisations. "Even the Chief Minister here (AP) was saved by divine grace. We want him to heed the Hindu electorate and save the Hindus."

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