The Karnataka Congress government is in a dilemma over tabling the ‘Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Bill 2024’ a second time in the Legislative Assembly as the bill meant to enhance the taxes from the earnings of the state-owned temples, which was passed in the lower house was defeated in the Legislative Council in a voice vote, on Friday. The ruling party is still mulling over reintroduction of the bill before the upcoming Lok Sabha polls as the opposition BJP was quick to label the Congress as “anti-Hindu” over the amendment.
The saffron party accused the Congress government of “looting” the high earning temples to fill the empty coffers of the state. The BJP also alleged that the government was tapping into the revenue of only the temples and not of the churches and the mosques.
Earlier, the Act mandated that temples with gross income exceeding Rs 10 lakh had to part with 10 % of their net income, and temples with annual income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh had to contribute 5 % of their net income towards the Common Pool Fund (CPF).
The latest amendment proposes that temples with annual incomes of up to Rs 1 crore will part with 5% and those getting incomes of above Rs 1 crore will give 10% of their annual income.
While, the BJP mocked at the Siddaramaiah government, calling it as “penniless”, and the amendment as a means to fill its depleted coffers (with temple tax), the Congress claimed that the creation of the CPF was not a new concept.
Chief Minister Siddaraamaiah contended that the law (Karnataka Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowments Act, 1997) has been around since May 2003. “The Common Pool of Funds was created under Section 17 of this law. In 2011, the BJP government amended the law, enabling the government to collect funds from high income group (A category) temples to support temples with poor incomes (C category) using the common pool fund,” said Siddaramaiah.
Karnataka has 34,563 temples under the Muzrai department, of which 205 are categorised as Group A temples (annual income exceeds Rs 25 lakh), 193 are Group B (with income between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 25 lakh) and the remaining are Group C temples as they have an income less than Rs 5 lakh per annum.
While, the government did not table the latest facts on the total revenue generated by the temples (as the bill was passed without a debate in the lower house), the annual revenue, as per an audit report of Group A and B temples in 2021-2022 was Rs 450 crore.
The bill is considered contentious as the right wing groups have been alleging that the earnings of the temple are being diverted to non-Hindu places of worship. Despite the Siddaramaiah government claiming that the common pool of funds or the gross revenue of the temples will be utilised only for the betterment of temples and the Hindu community, the Endowment department schemes like ‘Aradhana’ have come under public scrutiny as the guidelines are ambiguous.
Aradhana scheme which came into force in 1990-91 allows grants for “construction of temples, prayer hall, and other religious purposes in the places resided by Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, Minorities like Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhist, Parisis and Anglo Indians”.
State BJP chief B.Y. Vijayendra alleged that the Congress government’s plan to gobble up temple earnings reflected its deplorable condition and its abject hate towards Hindu dharma. “Temple funds should be exclusively utilised for renovation of temples and to facilitate the work beneficial to devotees, rather than diverting it for other purposes, which would be an injustice and betrayal of people's religious beliefs. Why are only Hindu temples being targeted for revenue, while leaving out other religions, is a question raised by millions of Hindu devotees. Instead of grabbing the devotees' money, the government should openly install "Donation Boxes" and seek funds from people to run the government,” mocked Vijayendra.
Meanwhile, the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti has demanded the government to revoke a clause in the bill that mandates appointment of a non-Hindu member to the temple management committee in case of a “composite institution”.
Muzrai minister R. Ramalinga Reddy clarified that the non-Hindu (Muslim) member would be appointed only in two cases -- Baba Budan Giri Darga in Chikmagalur district and at Bhutaraya Chowdeshwari and Sadat Ali Darga in Shivamogga, as members of both faiths visited these shrines.
Even as the ongoing Legislature session has been extended by a day (February 26), it remains to be seen if the Siddaramaiah government will table the bill once again in the Assembly on Monday or consider passing an ordinance before the Lok Sabha polls to enact the amended Act.