The Hindu Religious and Temple Endowments (Amendment) Bill, 2024, faced defeat in the Karnataka Legislative Council. The vote saw 18 members opposing the bill from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Janata Dal (Secular), with only seven in favor. Despite this setback, Muzrai department minister Ramalinga Reddy, who had actively worked on the bill to benefit less affluent temples, expressed resilience. He stated, “All is not lost. We will put it forth again in the Assembly on Monday.” The outcome occurred amid a low attendance from the treasury benches during the voting at 8 pm.
Notably, there were few members from the treasury benches present during the 8 pm vote, as per sources familiar with the situation.
The primary aim of the Karnataka temple bill is to assist the 35,000 Hindu temples and their associated families with lower incomes. The proposed measure seeks to shift the financial burden from revenue-earning temples to those with lesser income. The additional funds collected are intended to provide support to priests and their children for education and other essential needs.
However, Kota Srinivasa Poojary, the opposition leader in the Council, contended that the government should support poorer temples using its own revenues rather than relying on funds from wealthier temples. The bill mandates a 10% collection from temples with revenue exceeding ₹1 crore and 5% from temples with revenue between ₹10 lakh and ₹1 crore.
During the bill’s introduction and passage in the Legislative Assembly, the opposition accused the government of using the bill to augment funds for its guarantee schemes. R Ashoka, the Leader of the Opposition in the House, alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was “stealing from the collection boxes of the temples,” asserting that the government sought to collect a “10% commission from the income of the temples.”
The Muzrai department oversees around 35,000 temples, with 205 in Group A (income exceeding ₹25 lakh per year), 193 in Group B (income between ₹5 lakh and ₹25 lakh), and around 34,000 in Group C (income below ₹5 lakh).