From:

Global Hindu Heritage Foundation

SaveTemples.org

Ph: /

May 15, 2012

To:

Honorable Ch. Muthyam Reddy, MLA

Member, Board of Trustees, TTD

Tirupati, AP, India

"From the time Muslims started arriving, around 632 AD, the history of India becomes a long, monotonous series of murders, massacres, spoliations, and destructions. It is as usual, in the ‘name of a holy war' of their faith, of their sole God, that the barbarians have destroyed civilizations, wiped out entire races."   (Alain Danielou in his book, History of India) 

During the past few centuries the most belligerent, the most aggressive, the most rapacious, the most power-drunk section of humanity has been precisely, the Christian Western world. During these centuries western Christendom had invaded all other continents; its armies followed by priests and merchants have subjugated, robbed or pillaged most of the non-Christians. Native Americans, African, Australian, Asiatic populations have been subjugated to this peculiar brand of Christian "love" which has generally manifested itself in pitiless destruction, enslavement, coercion, destruction of the cultural values, institutions, the way of life of the victims and the spread of alcoholism, venereal disease, commercial cynicism and the like. Pitrim Sorokin (1889-1968), Harvard University Sociologist

The question is do we have to go through another cycle of destruction, defacing and disfiguring of the Hindu Temples by the state governments in India in 21^st Century?

Global Hindu Heritage Foundation is very much concerned about a number of issues pertaining to the employee Unions, the benefits of the employees, the employees’ indiscipline, training of volunteers, allocation of housing sites, and a number of similar matters.

NOTE: What we have written is in the best interest of our Hindu religion and Hindu Temples. It is not against any one person or any person in the position. Whenever we refer to EO, we are talking in generic term only. It is not to offend any body. It is only to free Hinduism from the clutches of government control and selfish individuals irrespective of their religious background. Please also know that no country in the world has taken over the religious institutions of the majority people. Why only in India?  Can we ever reconcile our consciousness with what is happening to our Temples?

Global Hindu Heritage Foundation (GHHF) was formed in USA in 2006 with a mission to regain the freedom of managing Hindu Temples by Hindus themselves; to challenge the illegal enactment of Endowment Act; to preserve the integrity of the wishes of the land donors; to prevent the Hindu Temples across the state to stop the sale /auction of the donated lands; to demand accountability, transparency and verifiability of all assets including the lands and jewelry; to demand that these Temples would not become pawns in the hands of politicians; to insist on the proper role of Acharyas and Swamijis in the functioning of the Hindu Temples; to advocate  provision of adequate facilities to the devotees; to demand proper treatment of all the devotees by the Temple employees; to prevent the misuse of funds donated by the devotees; to educate the Hindus about the discrimination of the government in managing the Temples; to inform the Hindus as to how the government is denying them freedom to a mange their institutions without any interference;  to inform Hindus about the use of Hindu and public funds by the government for the promotion of other religions; to take steps to prevent the regularization of encroached Temple lands, and  others.

On behalf of GHHF, we want to address a number of issues either directly or indirectly affecting the functioning of TTD with regard to the following matters:

1) TTD EMPLOYEES ATTACKED DEVOTEES

As you are aware that D. R. Narendra and Narra Munichandra went to Right To Information Office on February 24, 2011. Mohan Reddy, the TTD Employees Union Leaders along with a number of employees started abusing them, roughed them up and beat them without any provocation. They have used very abusive language as they beat them up. It appears that they were very angry with the High Court’s Stay Order prohibiting the distribution of Housing Sites by TTD. They were asking them to withdraw the case so that they would have their housing sites. If they do not withdraw, TTD employees threatened them by saying that they are going “to take care of them.”

It is sad, shocking, outrageous and deplorable to know that this kind of attack took place on this sacred place. Is this a place for such disgusting behavior, indiscipline and a gang style attack?  Do these employees possess any ethos and morals to respect the sacredness of this place? Do they know where they are working? Do they believe in Lord Venkateshwara? Do they believe in Hindu Gods? Are they Hindus? Are they practicing Hindus, mafia, atheist, Christians, Muslims, or Marxists who may have infiltrated TTD to defame it, loot it, abuse it and tarnish it’s image?

OUR REQUEST:

a)     Did TTD investigate the incident and identified the employees who participated in the attack against Narendra and Munichandra. Did TTD take any appropriate action against the culprits, such as, suspension, imposition of fines, imprisonment and/or dismissal fo the employee?

b)     Please know that failure to investigate and take appropriate action by TTD would encourage them to continue to harass the devotees, social activists, benefactors, donors and well wishers of the Temple. They will continue to do the same thing knowing that TTD cannot or will not take any action against them.  To prevent this climate of attacking and ignoring the directives of TTD, your office and Board should take immediate steps against the attackers.

c)     Failure to investigate and take appropriate action by TTD will be considered as an organization that has no guts, no courage, no guidelines, no moral authority, and no legal authority. TTD will be considered as an ineffective organization yielding to the heavy handedness of the employees.

d)     Does TTD have the authority to take appropriate action or not against these abusers? If it has the authority, why it is taking this long to take appropriate action against the attackers.

2) UNIONS

No Hindu Temple should allow the unionization of its employees. They need to be told that it is the donor’s money that sustains their livelihood. It is not a commercial, industrial and government operation to allow unionization of the employees. They are working at the most sacred place on the planet earth. They are at the mercy of the devotee’s faith who give donations to the Lord. Working at TTD should be considered a rare privilege and good karma in this life. Any misuse of their responsibility to serve the Lord is against the tenets of Hindu ethos.

a)        TTD should ban the unionization forthwith.  Continuation of their employment should be based on their performance and input by devotees about their performance.

b)         TTD should develop a scheme to impart and socialize the service-oriented mentality based on our scriptures and the consequences thereof.

c)        c) TTD should find out how many of the employees are Hinds, Christians, Muslims, Atheists, or Marxists; whether they believe in Hindu Gods or they are there only to exploit and defame the centuries old Balaji Temple?

3) BLACKMIAILING

GHHF and other organizations have been looking at the circumstances that have created the unions and their unchecked power over the TTD and similar Hindu Temples. It is a known fact that the state government appoints Executive Officer (EO) and Board members for a period of two years. These are the people in many cases with no experience in the management of these Temples. The Board members are totally partisan politicians who have no interest in serving the Temple and have every selfish interest in pleasing the Chief Minister (whether he be Christian or Muslim) and making money through schemes such as ticket scams. It has become on the job training for many appointees. By the time they understand the workings of TTD, they are replaced with another set of Officer and Board members.

Knowing fully well that the EO and Board members will be there for only two years, the UNIONS take advantage by blackmailing them, demanding unreasonable salary increases, benefits and compensations. The Union threatens them with their perennial, powerful weapon called STRIKE if TTD does not meet their demands. Fresh on the job, no EO would like to see the employees go on strike; consequently he will yield to the demands of employees. The scale is always tilted toward weight of UNIONS year after year with no end in sight and with no fixed salary scales.

a)     What plans do you have to counter the blackmail menace? What would be your recommendations to the government as to how the salary issues be handled?

b)     What is the role of the devotees and activist organizations in setting the salary scales and other benefits?

4) SALARIES AND BENEFITS

In addition to the salaries the employees receive along with annual increases, they are paid health benefits for the family, education expenses for the children even if they go to private schools), marriage expenses of the children, and expenses for their clothes, shoes, glasses etc.

QUESTIONS:

a)     How comparable are the salaries and benefits of the TTD employees with other government officials? Do you have any information on this matter?

b)     Can you also provide us with all the benefits the TTD employees receive for the perusal of the devotees?

5) ASSETS

Many devotees know that TTD has properties spanning across different states. Hence, we request the following:

a)     A comprehensive list of Temple assets including lands, real estate property, jewelry,  encroached lands, and pending cases in the courts be made available every year for the review by the devotees. Immediate steps should be taken to vacate lands occupied by employees or third parties.

b)     Houses built by the employees on Temple property should be recovered. These houses may be rented to the eligible employees at market value.

c)     Action must be taken against the employees who build or attempt to build houses in spite of the court order prohibiting them.

6) ACHARYAS, SWAMIJIS, & PEETHADHIPATIS

The Gurus, Acharyas, Swamijis and Peethadhipatis of various Ashrams and Mattas are essence of Hinduism. They are the upholders of dharmic way of life instilling spirituality and guiding their devotees to participate in selfless service to the community.

a)     TTD invited the Acharyas to Dharmic Sadassu to be held in Tirupati three times and cancelled all three times. As an Executive Officer, can you explain the circumstances under which you cancelled the Acharya Sabha meetings? What kind of political pressure was put on TTD to cancel it? The EO and the Board should be concerned with the propagation and preservation of Hinduism rather than buckling under pressure. AS Hindus EO and Board members should stand up for righteousness not unrighteousness. You all should not be pawns in the hands of Hindu-biters.

b)     Is there a hatred toward our spiritual leaders to the extent that you do not even invite them to inaugurate major festivals, to start a new project, to conduct Bhumi Pujas, inaugurate religious buildings etc. The contempt for Hinduism and its spiritual leaders is shocking and mindboggling. TTD is inviting all kind of unscrupulous politicians including Christians and treat them with full religious protocol accorded only to spiritually elevated souls. It is a shame that being Hindus, EOs and Board members are participating in the adulteration of sacredness of the Temples and mitigating the importance of Hindu religion.

c)     Why do these Officials allow the government to impose non-religious guidelines on the most scared place? Can’t these Officials act as Hindus and challenge the government interference? If Hindus in these positions cannot take a stand against the irreligious policies, who will do it?  Do any of them realize that they are sowing the seeds of destruction of their religion and their Hindu Temples?

d)     Is there any reason why our religious leaders are not consulted, invited, and honored on a regular basis?

7) VOLUNTEER BRIGADE

There will be thousands and thousands of bhaktas across the globe, who would be delighted to do volunteer services at TTD and other Temples. This would be an enormous savings to the Temples treasury. Further more they will do their job with full faith with no expectations. They will be looking forward to this rare privilege to serve their beloved Gods and Goddesses. Many Ashrams across India perform their functions and activities with volunteers expecting no salaries.

a)     TTD should initiate a Volunteer Brigade, invite them and train them so that they can be placed in different departments. In fact you should have a continuous flow of these brigade members trained to take up the seva as and when needed.

b)     TTD should place a minimum number of these Brigade members in different departments so that they can take over the responsibilities when needed. They will also serve as a check for any corrupt practices and inefficiency.

c)     Whenever the Union threatens to strike, TTD authority should deploy the Volunteer brigade immediately with minimum disruption. With this force behind him, the EO’s hands will be strengthened and he would not be a target of blackmail if he knows that he has the back up to replace the striking employees.

8) Hospitals

TTD is donating large sums of money to four hospitals that serve the greater Tirupati metropolitan area such as SVIMS, SVRR Government Hospital, BIRRD Hospital, and TTD Central Hospital.  TTD appears to have no control over the use of these funds. These funds are not designated for any specific task. Consequently, these funds are used for general purpose.

First of all, the hospitals are not religious organizations. But for serving the public, we should not be too much concerned or critical about donating these funds. However, it would be prudent to donate these funds for specific purposes such as latest equipment for testing purposes.

OUR CONCERN:  GHHF, Hindu Devalaya Parirakshana Samiti and Tirumala Tirupati Samrakshana Samithi came to know through our own friends and family members, whenever a patient due to accident goes to one these for hospitals for treatment, they are invariably asked to go to the nearby Christian Hospital. These Hindu patients are charged more money than the Christian patients and on top of it these patients unwillingly become victims of proselytization about their God.

a)     TTD should look into donating to one hospital to make it a full pledged hospital with all the required latest equipment so that no patient will be turned away because of inadequate facilities. TTD should not be a party to push Hindu patients to the claws of Christians.

b)     TTD should investigate as to the needs of the latest equipment with nearby Christian Hospital and equip one of the hospitals with all the facilities.

c)     TTD should appoint a committee to find out how many patients were turned away from these four hospitals and the reasons for their referral.

9) Vakula Mata Temple

TTD should take up to rebuild Vakula Mata Temple on the original site with all the amenities for the pilgrims. Vakula Mata is the mother who provided means for Lord Balaji and took care of His needs. It is time we honor her, recognize her and worship for her role in setting up Balaji Temple in Kaliyuga.

10) Skyway Interlink Railway

It is high time to look at the convenience of the devotees and establish Skyway Interlink Railway connecting Tiruchunur, Vakula Mata Temple, Govinda Rajula Temple, Kapila Teerdham and Alipiri. This kind of system will take the devotees from one place to another in few minutes instead of going through traffic in the city and also seeing all kinds of non-sacred places in the city.

11) Dharma Sadassu

As you know TTD used to conduct Dharma Sadassu inviting all the religious leaders, Peetadhipatis and Swamiji and have a conference to discuss various aspects of Sanatana Dharma. These kind conventions have been discontinued because of the Top brass intervention for New Delhi.

a)     Can TTD explain why Dharma Sadassu has been discontinued? Who was behind the cancellation? Is it so wrong to have Dharma Sadassu conducted by TTD, which is the most sacred and religious place on the planet earth for Hindus.

12) Politicians and Sadhus

It is very hard to read that whenever the most religious activity takes place at TTD, only politicians are invited to either ground-breaking ceremony, Rathotsavam, or opening ceremonies of various activities. Religious leaders are the most appropriate persons who should be undertaking those activities.

a)     Can TTD explain why the politicians are invited to these religious functions?

b)     Is there any body in the Board who has any level of knowledge on Hinduism? Is there any body that can talk about Hinduism?

c)     If some body asks these Board members about Hinduism, do you think if any body can talk about or answer any queries of the devotees.

13) Sant Ravidass Project

This project should concentrate on visiting the Dalit communities, talk about the message of Sant Ravidas and start reconversion efforts by creating pride in their caste system.

TTD should give top priority to create Hindu mind set among all the Dalits. TTDs failure will be a disaster for our religion.  Any project can be delayed, postponed indefinitely or scrapped, but this cannot be taken lightly.

If we loose TTD, we will loose the country, we will loose Hinduism, we will loose the freedom and we will loose culture that was loaded with moral compass.

14) Dharma Ratha Daana Trust

To our knowledge there are only 5-6 Rathas located in Kadapa and Krishna Districts to propagate Sanatana Dharma. TTD should extend this project to all the districts acquiring 4-5 Rathas for each district.  We have to go full force to talk about the value of our religion. Responsibility should be given to the local trusts, Temples and people with passion.

15) No New Construction on the hills

TTD should stop the new construction on the hills to make sure it is too crowded to have any sanctity or sacredness left.

16) Walk way to Tirumala

TTD should consider widening the walkway for the convenience of the pilgrims. TTD may even consider having another pathway for returning pilgrims to avoid the heavy traffic.

17) Pranadaata Trust – Ambulances

TTD should take up this project and request donors to gift Ambulances  Pranadaata Trust so that they can be used to transport sick people to the hospitals.  There will be so many people come forward to donate Ambulances. Request 108 ambulances so that TTD can print Lord Venkateswara Picture on it as well as one of the Ashtottaranama on each of the Ambulances.  TTD can even put the name of the donor on the Ambulance if the donor agrees. Many pharmcuetical companies will be happy to donate the medicines for the ambulances.

18) Repeal the Endowment Act

We request you to think as a Hindu, not as affiliated to a political party, and see what is happening to our religion and our Temples. Government is literally destroying the very fabric of Hindu culture, insulting the Sadhus, destroying the temples, allowing temples to be dilapidated, auctioning thousands of acres for political appeasement, and robbing the treasury of the Temples.

Can you imagine any politician talking about taking over the Mosques and Churches? Did any TTD board members of officers talked about it?

Please help restore the freedom for Hindus to manage their own affairs and manage their own Temples, the way the Christians and Muslims are given the freedom to manage their religious places.

Thank you for time.

Dhanyavad

Prakasarao V. Velagapudi, PhD

President, GHHF

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GHHF Core Team

V. V. PrakasaRao, PhD, ( cell), ( home); (; ), (); (); (); (); Vinay Boppana (248-842-6964);  (); ();  V. Nandini Rao (); (); (); Shankar Adusimilli (); (); (); Raghavendra Prasad; MD (); (); (); (); (); (); (); (); Jayesh Thakker (214-718-7481); P. Viswanadham (); (); (); (); ()