An audit of Kerala’s revered Guruvayur temple has exposed glaring irregularities in its asset management, opening yet another chapter in the long saga of temple mismanagement under Communist rule in the state. The audit revealed that precious donations of gold, ivory, saffron, and cookware have gone missing—echoing similar episodes seen at the Sabarimala temple earlier this year.
The Guruvayur Gold Theft Scandal
A 2019 audit report, publicized only in October 2025, documented serious procedural lapses in how the Guruvayur Devaswom handled temple valuables. The report indicated that temple gold and ivory had been stored and moved without due process, and that items worth lakhs—including 2,000 kilograms of traditional cookware (uruli) and offerings like manchadi seeds—were missing. The audit also cited a financial loss of ₹79 lakh due to mismanagement of gold deposits in a State Bank of India gold deposit scheme.
The Board, which oversees 12 temples across Kerala, admitted to discrepancies but claimed they had been rectified and reported to the Kerala High Court. Opposition leaders, however, have called this a whitewash. BJP state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar accused the Communist-led government of supervising “loot in the name of administration,” demanding a central investigation akin to the ongoing Sabarimala probe.
Pattern of Communist Interference in Temple Affairs
This incident is not isolated—it reflects a wider pattern of systematic interference by Kerala’s Communist government in temple administration. Over the past several years, the CPI(M)-controlled Travancore and Guruvayur Devaswom Boards have faced allegations ranging from temple land encroachments to gold misappropriation. A recent exposé listed 14 major cases of government meddling in temple traditions and finances since 2019, including the Sabarimala gold scandal where nearly 475 grams of gold disappeared from the sanctum’s guardian idols.
Even after repeated pleas from devotees and Hindu organizations, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has publicly refused to return administrative control to devotees, arguing that state oversight is necessary for “revival.” Critics describe this as a political justification for retaining control over vast temple revenues and assets.
Parallels with Dravidianist and Congress Rule
Similar patterns can be seen in Tamil Nadu and Congress-ruled states. The Tamil Nadu HR&CE Department under Dravidianists controls more than 40,000 temples, often auctioning temple lands and diverting donations to state funds. In Congress-ruled regions like Karnataka, temple revenues have been repurposed for non-religious projects and welfare schemes benefiting minority groups. These practices point to a broader ideological disdain for Hindu institutions rooted in leftist and Dravidianist thought, mirroring the situation in Kerala.
Reclaiming Temples for the Hindu Samaj
The Guruvayur and Sabarimala controversies reignite an old debate: Should the state have control over Hindu temples? Temples are living institutions, maintained by faith and voluntary donations. Yet, in Left-ruled or secular-controlled states, they have been politicized, bureaucratized, and in many cases, looted under the guise of “public administration.”
Restoring temple management to the Hindu Samaj—through elected bodies of devotees, priests, and community representatives—would ensure accountability rooted in faith rather than politics. Devotees argue that just as churches, mosques, and gurdwaras remain self-governed, Hindu temples too must be freed from state control. Only then can spiritual institutions like Guruvayur regain both their sanctity and their trust among devotees.
