Christians’ plan to build Church on Hindu Trust Lands in Lalpuram, Guntur District FoiledSri Kamal Kumar Swamy was in Bapatla to meet with town people when Lord Bhavanarayana Temple collapsed on October 24. The next day he also participated in organizing and supporting the protest for the proposed demolition of 79-foot Hanuman Statue near National Highway 5. Collector promised not to remove it. During that time, a group of villagers from Lalpuram village in Guntur District came and met with Sri Kamal Kumar Swami and explained in detail about the encroachment of Hindu Trust land and the proposed construction of Church on it. He immediately appraised the matter to the collector and he called Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) members to take appropriate steps to resolve the matter.
Lalpuram is a village about 6 kilometers from Guntur. For generations, Sanagapally family had a 21.25 acre lake, which is mainly used for the irrigation and other purposes of the villagers. The family also had about 15.44 acres of land; the money generated from the land is used to maintain the Lake. Over the years, as the family members were not able to manage the property, they handed over the property to the Village Panchayat around 1968. In 1968, about 7 acres of land was taken by the government for the construction of National Highway paying modest amount as compensation. In 1984 village Surpanch handed over the property to the Endowments Department to protect it from land grabbers. In 2010, National Highway authorities took over about 1.5 acres and paid about 83 lakhs of rupees, which is below the market value. As of now there are less than 7 acres left in the Trust, which is being managed by the Endowments Department.
After GHHF members received the call from Sri Kamal Kumar Swami, we talked to Sri A. Vara Prasad, Village leader; Sri Dasari Ramu, local activist, and Sri P. Subba Rao, the Village EO to find out the situation on the ground. It appears that over the last seven months one of the Pastors was encouraging the local Christians to occupy the land and build a Church. Finally about 150-200 village Christians illegally occupied a portion of the 7-acre land and started conducting prayers by erecting a Cross. Immediately local people complained to the District Collector’s Office, Mandala Regional Officer (Sri Bapi Reddy) and Sri P. Subba Rao, village EO who in turn approached local police. Sri P. Subba Rao and local police apprised the Christians of the status of the land by saying that it belongs to the State Endowments Department and they should not use this land for the construction of church.
The Police Department finally imposed Section 145 prohibiting them to congregate and pray. Ignoring the Section 145, the Christians gathered on November 14 on the site, offered prayers and had a feast until the next morning. Again villagers went to the police station and EO office and informed the authorities.
Then the Christians complained against local people and lodge a SC case against them. Sri A. Vara Prasad, Sri T Gopal Rao and others were asked to go to the police station where they were asked to sign a “Binding Over” document by which they agreed not to harass the local Christians. The fact is that they never harassed them; they only told the Christian land grabbers that they should not occupy this land illegally to construct a Church. The SAD part is that a Hindu can be charged with harassment by any minority even without ever having iota of evidence.
After we gathered all the information from local people, called and explained the situation in Lalpuram to Sri K. V. Ramana Chary, who is the Principle Secretary of the Revenue Department (Endowments). He said he would call the District Collector and Joint Collector to take appropriate action. Then we also called Sri Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, Member of Parliament, who immediately called Mr. Moses Paul, Circle Inspector. It so happened that Vara Prasad and other local people were in the police station with Moses Paul. Sri Rayapati called us back and said that they will stop the Christian prayers on the Endowment land and also said that no Church will be allowed on the property. We also called the Circle inspector to take appropriate action.
According to Indian Penal Code, Section 145 is defined as thus: “Joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse. Whoever joins or continues in an unlawful assembly, knowing that such unlawful assembly has been commanded in the manner prescribed by law to disperse, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extent to two years, or with fine, or with both.” Since the local Christians were meeting on the site ignoring Section 145, under the direction of District Collector’s office, the Police Department staked a post saying, “This property belongs to the Endowment Department. Any body who uses this property without permission is liable for punishment and imprisonment.”
As of this date (November 19), the Christians have not removed the Cross. PHOTO of the cross is attached for your information. We called local EO, P Subba Rao, and the State Endowment Commissioner, Sri G. Balaramaiah, who said that they would take appropriate steps to address the matter. We also called Sri Ponnala Lakshmaiah, the Minister for Endowments, who asked us to send an email so that he can direct the appropriate authorities to look into this matter. GHHF will continue to monitor the situation and communicate with appropriate authorities until the illegal Cross is removed from the land.
Initially local people were skeptical about the prospects of stopping the Christians from constructing the church because CI, DSP and SP are all Christians who may not take much interest in enforcing the law by taking immediate remedial steps. It also happened that this village and nearby villages come under SC Constituency. They feel that the local politicians could be behind this incident for the purpose of Vote Bank politics. With the involvement from the State government officials, local MP, and continued monitoring of local residents and GHHF, the situation will soon be resolved to the satisfaction of the villagers.
All Hindus should be reminded of what Bishop Desmond Tutu (African Spiritual leader) said about Christians: “When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said, ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.” Hindus should remember the words of Rev. Tutu and also guard themselves against what Thomas Jefferson said about Christian cruelty, vengefulness and capriciousness.
Suggestions made by Sri Kamal Kumar Swami toward TEMPLES IN DALITH COMMUNITIES initiated by TTD (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams)As per the resolution passed on 25-05-2010 by TTD, a commendable proposal was initiated to construct 5 lakh small temples in schedule caste, tribal and backward areas. But it should be taken up with full dedication the way Dalitha Govindam program was initiated.
The following modifications and additions are essential for the success of this project
1. It may not be available to get suitable 10 cents land in some places, so instead of putting limit of 10 cents availability, the construction may taken up to suit the belief of local people in the villages.
2. Your allocation of 2 crores rupees per is woefully inadequate. How many decades TTD might take to complete the construction of Hindu Temples in all Dalit Communities? Two crore rupees can be used to construct only 40 Temples per year. It may be better to construct at least 500 Temples per year parallely arranging training for archakas for maintaining those temples in traditional way.
3. After 5 years, depending on necessity, the funds allocated to Dharmaprachara Sabha may be diverted to the constriction of the Temples.
4. In some big villages, TTD allotted funds for renovation and repairs. TTD should encourage rich people and persons with donating aptitude to take over the responsibility of these Temples.
For example: lakhs of rupees were allotted for repair of temple in Belampalli village of Adilabad district, where as Bellampalli is a financially sound village. Instead, these funds may be allotted to build temples in backward areas like Gondu and Madura tribal villages of Tiryani and Bezru Mandalams respectively.
5. Don’t construct anymore TTD Kalyana Mandapalu in the state. As of now the existing ones are being rented because of their maintenance difficulties. Because of the influence of politicians with matching funds, crores of rupees of Lord’s money are getting wasted.
6. All Sri Venkateswara temples in the state and country should come under the preview of TTD.
7. Then TTD can frame rules and regulations for better management.
8. Then each Venkateswara temple become a center for not only to conduct dharmic (culture according to dharma), spiritual activities but also to conduct service activities. Each temple trust will work in coordination with central dharmic center at TTD.
10. When TTD starts cores of lakhs trust, then there is no need to have crore of donors to come forward, even a lakh of like minded will meet the requirement.
11. For the welfare of Hindu society, the self-confidence must be created among Hindus that TTD is always there to help and support the Hindu causes when the time comes.
12. TTD should encourage and call the youth in first front who volunteer in rendering services locally without selfishness in dharmic and service activities.
13. Those who have a lot of experience, knowledge and devotion to render service up to their last breath are to be made as tools in this yagna/ process. At the same time, TTD should not get stamped as peaceful shelter for retired employees.
14. There should be at least 5 Dharma Prachara Rathas /Chariots per district. Mini buses may also be better used for this purpose. These buses can be attached to local trusts provided they take the responsibility of managing them.
15. Use the most reputable trusts like Bhagavathula Charitable Trust to provide more service to all Hindus progress in a faster way.
courtesy:http://www.haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=15024&SKIN=B
