I see a great number of people defend the idea of liquidating the gold from Hindu temples to improve the rupee and shore up the treasury. Basically the point is the government messed up due to poor economic policies, lax implementation of tax laws and enforcement against hoarding, hawalas, participatory notes and all other stuff other people know more about than me. Giving the devil it's due and whatever the cause is, something has to be done. As such I'm not against liquidating some of the gold from the super rich temples controlled by boards such as the HR&CE (and the not so rich ones are mostly not HR&CE controlled, so they be left alone to sustain themselves) if it helps arrest the economic slide.
That far it is acceptable. Especially given the common knowledge that alot of ill gotten money from Rajasekhara Reddys, Yeddyurappas and co have found their way to Tirupathi, Manjeshwar etc. It is a different issue, altogether, that there shouldn't be avenues to get illegitimate money, and secondly, there should be safeguards against such money finding it's way to such big temples that have their own govt controlled boards overseeing them. It is everyone's knowledge that the most popular way of whitening black money is to go to shady jewel and precious stone merchants. Movies and other art forms have done their part in giving us that idea. But when the money you need to whiten is so big, these small time merchants don't match up to the level needed. In this context, dumping all the black money-converted gold in temples, especially those in which the board consists of members handpicked by their own govt, is a safe haven. Besides, how many of us ask where does all this gold come from? Hell, no one even asks where all the gold in the golden temple in Vellore came from (rationalist Karunanidhi has alot of answering to do about his patronage to it). So by liquidating a portion of these rich temples gold, I go for it merely because some of the gold was dumped in through black money by dishonest and corrupt politicians. This means some of the lost revenues and taxes, and bribes received (which basically translates to a bigger loss on tender payments to win contracts, foregone licenses etc) is atleast being re-inducted into the system to help fund the economy. Of course, I'm not validating this habit or saying that since the black-money would be finally used some of the culpability of the wrong-doers is erased. Not at all. I merely saying that some of the gold came from money that should have been a part of the revenue sheets, so let it go back there where it belongs.
I've explained why I'm ok with the retrieval of gold from super-rich temples. But then I'm not ok with what is actually happening. The very next day or 2 after this news came out, there was news about the Maharashtra govt with plans of a 10 Crore fund to modernise madrassas. Is that an urgent need really with the situation the economy is in? I agree it's a State govt proposal only but it's not as if the State's treasury is in the pink of health either. And it's no surprise which party is ruling this State and which party at the center came up with the idea of getting gold from temples. Because of this the whole explanation that they resorted to get gold from temples to support the rupee falls flat. That is because they say they want to fund the economy for vital projects but if they are in such dire straits they ought to use all the money from the gold for those vital projects in infra, or to reduce the account deficit or to bring down the rupee. I cannot see modernisation of madrassas as going to in any way help build infra, or reduce the deficit or improve the rupee. And I don't see any news anywhere about the Haj subsidy getting cut this financial year because of the doldrums the economy is in. They are simply taking money from a place of one religion and giving (atleast a part of it) it to a place of another religion. Who in their right mind thinks this will improve the economy? This doesn't at all fit in with the explanation offered for getting gold from temples. There is a big big hole. Oh and did I just see P Chidambaram say the rupee will correct itself? Then what's the point of this whole exercise?
And may I point out that if all religion based doles to any religion - Hindu (not that there are too many cases of it), Muslim, Christian, whatever, are cut (and that includes the Haj subsidy) the saving would be close to equal to what the government plans to get from temple gold. So this establishes that if the govt is sincere that it has no other way to save the economic situation, then they must do it uniformly. Cut all religious subsidies, and retrieve resources from everywhere - Temples, Wakf boards, church lands etc. Simply doing a half baked and selective job is plain and simple discrimination and is condemnable. And it makes the whole explanation of trying to save the economy appear as a sham and lie to to simply indulge in minority appeasement.
So that is my basic problem with this proposal. The inconsistency. Between what they say they want to do and what they are actually doing. And here's another thing that struck me. I went to Visakhapatnam recently. Believe me when I tell you the UPA is going to get mutilated in Coastal Andhra following the Telengana ordinance. Their whole focus is on Telengana now. They know they have no hope in Coastal Andhra districts. The State creation ordinance is enough to get them Telengana. But they are still so s**t in the game changer states like MP, UP etc. Pappu magic not with-holding. Their usual bribes to voters won't pay this time, they need much much more. So it makes perfect sense to them to take money out from Coastal Andhra (Tirupati lies there) where they have no chance in hell, and use it to improve their chances in the big states where they are lagging behind. So I won't be surprised to think gold from Tirupati or other temples is just going to end up in voter influencing in UP etc. With the SP pulling all stops in minority appeasement, UPA can't be left behind. I don't think this is a far fetched thought given the recent history and behavior of the UPA. Of course the gold can only end up in the national treasury and not in the hands of the politicians. That's why there are tools to convert the money in treasury into sops and doles. Special courts for muslim accused requires money to run, Haj subsidy requires money and so do the modernisation of madrassas. Funds for those can be allocated only by policy and from the treasury (national/state) and not from the politician's pocket.
Taken in isolation, just announcing sops like special courts (well it still rings as minority appeasement) appear just like another blatant exercise of pseudo-secularism by a govt bereft of ideas. Taken in isolation with the explanation offered, getting gold from temples appears like a legitimate effort to correct the economy. Take both together. It is a definite case of minority appeasement. And not just the simple appeasement where it says 'we will treat you preferentially'. It is one which says ' we will not only treat you preferentially, we will also disfavour the others'. This is ground reality. This isn't a violent or communal opinion.
Extremely ignorant are voices and comments of many that Hindus are opposing this because they are 'closed minded' and that 'Hindutva and development' don't go together. May I kindly suggest you to contemplate the uproar and perhaps worse that may have erupted if the govt had thought of attaching properties and other wealth in the possession of wakf boards and churches? Besides think whether they would even entertain an monitoring body like the HR&CE which exists for Hindu temples. In comparison are you seeing any strong form of protest by Hindus at all to this? When you consider that sops are given majorly to the minority communities ( i.e the fact that sops are religion based and not economic status based), it will lead you to as to in who's name the treasury gets drained, and in whose name development gets a backseat. So it is to those voices that I say 'open up your closed mind' and do not 'go together with development'.
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