CHENNAI: Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister Ramesh on Thursday said the government would abide by the court’s directions on the controversy over the omission of the Meenakshi Amman Temple trustees’ names from the invitation for the September 17 Kumbabhishekam (consecration), asserting that temples should not be made a platform for politics.
Talking to reporters at the Secretariat here, Ramesh said the government would follow the directions issued in connection with the consecration of the Madurai temple and related administrative issues.
The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court had taken exception to the omission of the trustees’ names from the invitation and directed that their names be included in the inscription to be installed after the ceremony.
“Temples are not places for doing politics,” Ramesh said.
On restrictions on mobile phones, he said the ban was extended across temples in Tamil Nadu following a case concerning the Tiruchendur temple in December 2022. He clarified that mobile phones could be permitted inside temples on festival and other special occasions and said there was no need to introduce a system to collect and deposit devotees’ phones on such days.
Defending the Rs 5 fee collected from devotees, Ramesh said it was not a new practice and was followed in several States, including Kerala and BJP-ruled States. The amount would be used for temple employees’ salaries and facilities such as providing food to poor devotees, he said.
Rejecting criticism of the fee, he said those making such allegations were among those who wanted the HR&CE Department itself abolished.