Kerala Devaswom minister K Radhakrishnan admitted in the state assembly that 25,187.4 acres of temple land belonging to the Malabar Devaswom board were encroached in the state. The very same day, the state cabinet decided to issue land titles to the very same land grabbers, in Malappuram district.  

Media reports confirmed that the government is moving ahead with a process that will see hundreds of temples in the state lose their lands. It is alleged that this authoritarian move was done without consulting the Devaswom board members. A majority of the land encroached belongs to the Malabar Devaswom board and involves 1123 temples. Temples in Malappuram come under the Malabar Devaswom. 

Several acres of land in Manathala, Trichur belonging to Guruvayur temple have been trespassed upon and the authorities are yet to complete the survey of Cochin Devaswom Board land grabbers. 

Radhakrishnan also admitted that many unauthorized temple committees exist in Malabar and that they were indulging in collecting funds from the devotees. It is well known that temple committees have become nothing more than cash cows for greedy Hindu In Name Only (HINO) communists who are on the lookout for easy money.  

This government drive to provide pucca land ownership rights to land stealers will result in the loss of land for hundreds of temples in Malappuram. As a first step, the process of ‘examining the records’ separately for each taluk in the district is in progress.

With the help of corrupt officials, these illegal occupiers have forged documents including tax receipts. All of them will receive land and it is suspected that there was a big conspiracy behind this whole scheme.

The decision to issue the title deeds will be completed within a couple of months after ‘examining’ the fake land records. In Malappuram district, Islamists have appropriated temple lands ever since Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan invaded the region in the second half of the 18th century, and the process peaked during the Hindu genocide in 1921 and has continued ever since with communists joining in post-Independence. 

Will this latest communist move to legitimize temple looters be a setback for Hindu community leaders and genuine temple protection committees who are working hard to reclaim some temple lands, only time will tell. Is the government even authorized to do so is another matter. It is doubtful whether the esteemed courts will intervene since it involves losses for Hindus and gains for Islamists, a classic win for ‘secularism’ in the Nehruvian Idea of India. 

Unless such looting of temple wealth is dealt with severely by Hindus who are in deep slumber, Kerala will become a lawless land pretty soon. The nationalist government in Delhi should intervene and stop such practices that are aimed are destroying communal harmony in the only known Muslim majority district of Kerala.