Chief Minister M.K. Stalin said the ‘Dravidian model’ government that allowed everyone eligible to become archakas in temples, was true social justice.
Mr. Stalin was speaking in Chennai on Friday, while participating at a mass wedding function held for 34 couples, on behalf of temples in the State, organised by the Hindu Religious & Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department.
The CM said the Rajasthan Government had appointed a total of 17 archakas, including eight women, at temples, inspired by Tamil Nadu. He said the Madras High Court’s decision allowing archakas to be from any caste goes to show how social justice is being brought in by this government.
Mr. Stalin also highlighted the phrase of ‘Kundrakudi Adigalar’, of a society developing around the temples, and said, “It was our Justice Party that created the HR&CE Department to administer Hindu temples. Through this, they wanted to prevent temples from becoming places administered by dishonourable persons.”
The CM also said the Department has been taking steps to renovate temples and improve amenities for the devotees. He said 43,000 temples were being administered by the HR&CE Department in the State. Steps have been taken to form district and zonal-level expert committees to renovate ancient temples without damaging the original temple architecture. The expert committees have now given their nod to renovate 3,986 temples, and the State government has allotted ₹100 crore to renovate 112 old temples, he said.
The Department, through experts appointed in the four metro cities of Chennai, Madurai, Coimbatore and Tiruchi, was also taking steps to renovate temple tanks, as also increasing the number of temples for renovation from 1,000 to 1,250, he said, and increasing the budget from ₹1 lakh to ₹2 lakh for each temple
HR and CE Minister P.K. Sekarbabu, Higher Education Minister K. Ponmudy, Health and Family Welfare Minister Ma. Subramanian, Minorities Welfare and Non Residents Tamils Welfare Minister Gingee K.S. Masthan and Chennai Corporation Mayor R. Priya also participated in the function.
