Temple Demolitions: Get heard

Following news items are the ones you definitely would have missed out.

(1) In Lahore the Krishna Mandir was recently demolished by the Pakistan Government. The temple site was sold by the administration to a private party to construct a commercial complex. No Hindu even protested the demolition fearing the use of muscle power by the new owner of the temple site. Now there is no temple in Lahore where Hindus can worship.

(2) In Minnesota (USA) this year, a newly constructed Hindu temple which was about to be inaugurated was attacked by ‘unknown miscreants’. Nine out of 14 deities were vandalized so badly that new deities should be made again.

(3) Since February this year three Hindu temples have been knocked down in Malaysia. Three more temples will soon see the dust. Local Hindus say there is an unofficial cleansing of Hindu temples in Malaysia.

(4) ISKCON purchased a land legally in Kazakhstan, a muslim dominated country. Seeing the land prices raising high the Government of Kazakhstan confiscated the land belonging to ISKCON illegally a few months back. Even the courts were not of any help to ISKCON to retain its legal property.

(5) In Russia, ISKCON temple was demolished by the Government a few years back. The Mayor had promised a new land for building the temple which has not been given till date. Archbishop Nikon of Russian Orthodox Church wrote to the Mayor of Moscow asking him not to allow a Hindu temple to be built in Moscow because according to him, “Lord Krishna is an evil demon, the personified power of hell, opposing God.”

(6) In Bangladesh, it is an annual event to vandalize Durga Deity during Durga Puja and last year at least at three places Muslims vandalized Durga Deity.

(7) During last year’s Deepavali, local Christians firebombed a Vishnu temple destroying the temple and injuring scores of Hindus celebrating Deepvali in Guyana.

It is possible that I have missed out more such news. By now you are aware that none of the above made it big on media. It is understandable because there were no subsequent riots on the streets disturbing the normal life anywhere. There was no damage caused to public property by those hurt by the above incidents. Obviously Hindus do not think it is worth to attack fellow civilians and public property due to above incidents, however unfortunate and unjustified the incidents are.

In Tamil Nadu last year, 250 temples were brought down to earth following High Court orders in Madurai. The reason was those temples were built on public property. There were no protests. Hindus there thought such a drive was carried out in the interest of people at large.

A few weeks back, following High Court orders a drive to demolish all religious places occupying public property was taken up in Vadodara. 42 Hindu temples were demolished and the city was peaceful as if nothing has happened. But soon after the demolition of a dargah, violence erupted. Everyone including the Central Government intervened. Central Government filed a petition in Supreme Court asking to stop further demolitions. SC ruling against the High Court ordered the State Government to stop the demolitions.

This goes on to show that to get what you want you should go out rioting, hurting fellow citizens and damaging the public property. Media becomes hyper active, politicians stunt around to grab an opportunity for votes, Central Government also drops in to give a parental care and of course the supreme ‘Supreme Court’ will come your rescue.