A Communist MP from Tamil Nadu has been caught trying to give away land belonging to the Vyasaraja Matha. Su Venkatesan, the CPI(M) MP of the Madurai Lok Sabha constituency, had organized an event to distribute documents making the encroachers the owners. The event was canceled after the Matha authorities filed a complaint against it. The previous Communist MP had also tried to give away the land to settlers.
The Vyasaraja math in Karnataka owns 27 acres in Madurai, TN. As per the in-charge of these properties, many are under encroachment. Part of it is located on Workshop Road, Poonthottam, where encroachers have built houses. Madurai Lok Sabha MP Su Venkatesan of CPI(M) organized an event on August 22 to distribute patta(a legal document proving that somebody is the owner of a particular property) to the encroachers legalizing the encroachment. Posters were put up to thank the MP for “getting patta after 55 years of struggle”.
However, Raghavendra, responsible for looking after the Matha’s properties in Madurai, lodged complaints with the district administration and police. Following this, the event was canceled. It is alleged that the Communist MP has been trying to gain goodwill in the constituency as the next Loksabha election is nearing. A Dinamalar report says that the MP has been holding grievance meetings to popularize himself with the Lok Sabha election approaching and takes credit for grievances solved by the district administration through the usual grievance redressal system.
The report speculates that distributing patta to the encroachers is part of this image-building exercise, even though it is against the law. It further says that the previous Communist MP, the late P Mohan, also tried to do the same and was stopped at the last moment as Madurai Corporation records showed that the property belongs to the matha. The Vijayanagara Ujjivana Trust, which has been working for the temple cause, shared a document showing the same on social media.
Patta issued to squatters for Vyasaraja Matha land in Madurai. The land register shows it as the matha property with Title Deed no. 1175. We strongly oppose such alienation of matha and temple lands. We request that properties of temples and mathas be used for their main purpose. pic.twitter.com/Mve0dDRwZB
— Vijayanagara Ujjivana (@VUjjivana) August 23, 2023
The document issued by the District Collector of Madurai in September 2021 shows that a representative of those who have encroached on the land and Mohan, Secretary of Poonthottam CPI(M), petitioned authorities to issue patta to those who have been residing there for more than 50 years. It says that the Commissioner of the corporation informed that the concerned property belongs to a private party(Vyasaraja Matha).
The matha had also filed a writ petition opposing the property being declared government property in some places when it is recorded as the property of the matha in revenue records. In the end, the document says that as the Commissioner has identified it as private property and is registered as the property of Vyasaraja Matha in the land register, the Revenue and Disaster Management Department cannot issue patta for the same.
Even though this reply was forwarded to Mohan, one of the petitioners and CPI(M) functionary, MP Su Venkatesan, proceeded to organize an event to distribute patta and take credit for it. It is unclear what papers he could have distributed as patta, with the Revenue Department denying the possibility. Either he took the help of corrupt officials to grab the matha’s land, or he intended to fool the encroachers. Either way, this shows the nature of so-called social justice warriors and how they are after temple and matha properties.
Recently, there was a controversy when the TN Wakf Board claimed a whole village in Trichy as Wakf property, including a 1500-year-old temple and its lands. Now, TN Wakf Board Chairman Abdul Rahman has argued that even though the temple is 1500 years old, the land it stands on is Wakf property, and it could continue to stand there.
The temple has lands donated by Parantaka Chola (circa 910 CE) & it was built well before his time as “Katrali”. The entire place is a Brahmadeya as recorded by other inscriptions and attached to the temple. It has became waqf land now !!! https://t.co/M0WxICu9ya pic.twitter.com/pBfJaGkOrb
— 𑀓𑀺𑀭𑀼𑀱𑁆𑀡𑀷𑁆 🇮🇳 (@tskrishnan) August 23, 2023
Historians on social media pointed out that there are inscriptions showing that the lands belonging to the temple were donated by Parantaka Chola I in 910 CE, and there are other inscriptions to corroborate the property rights. Others alluded that the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department carrying out ‘renovations’ and destroying centuries-old inscriptions could be to help such blatant swindling of temple properties.
Despite such solid records, temple properties are stolen with impunity. It could be the government alienating properties for government projects, politicians looking to make quick bucks or votes, or Islamists indulging in land jihad 1000 years since their arrival; all of them have been targeting temple properties and thoroughly wrecking the temple ecosystem.
