Indian
Express: Mumbai: Wednesday, 16 September 2015.
The Hindu
Janjagruti Samiti (HJS) has taken strong exception to Maharashtra government’s
decision to provide financial aid to Muslims and Christians from the funds of
the city’s most frequented Siddhivinayak Temple.
The HJS, a
prominent Hindu organisation in the state, has acquired information through
Right to Information Act (RTI) which states that the Siddhivinayak Temple
Trust, run by a state government-appointed body, had spent money on the
treatment of 548 Muslim and 82 Christian patients. HJS spokesperson Uday Dhuri
said that the Trust money must be spend on treatment of Hindu patients alone
since only Hindus offer donations at the temple.
“The
government could be secular not the God,” said Dhuri, a medical doctor by
training.
“Treating
patients from other religions with the Hindus’ money is a breach of the Hindus’
trust. The government has no right to spend the money on anyone other than the
Hindus. Has anyone heard of Muslim or Christian religious bodies assisting the
Hindus?” he asked.
Dhuri
demanded that the state’s BJP-Shiv Sena Government must amend the Shri
Siddhivinayak Temple Act and make a provision that the trust money be used for
the benefits of the Hindus alone. “There is a separate government department
for welfare of the minorities. If the government desires to do something for
them it should spend money from the funds reserved for the minorities. On one
hand, the government talks about taking over the management of temples across
the state and on the other hand it does not utter a word on 77,000 acres of
land owned by the Wakf Board,” he said.
A R Anjaria,
a member of the managing committee of Jama Masjid, Delhi, said that anyone
should help others on the humanitarian grounds and not on the basis of his/her
religion. “It is a prerogative of the trustees to decide whom the trust should
help. I appreciate the Siddhivinayak Temple Trust for providing financial
assistance to Muslims. Any religion gets recognition by the karm (act) of its
followers. If they do good work, the religion is known as a good one,” he
said. Anjaria said Muslim religious
bodies also help non-Muslim patients to
get treatment. “We should look at each other as a human being and not as a
representative of a certain religion,” he said.
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