Hindu activist Rama Ravikumar has strongly objected to a demand raised by DMK legislator Abdul Wahab in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly seeking the issuance of pattas to thousands of residents across multiple localities in Tirunelveli district, stating that the demand includes land belonging to an ancient Hindu temple.
Abdul Wahab, while speaking in the Assembly, urged the government to immediately grant pattas to families living without land titles, building permissions, electricity connections, or access to bank loans. He listed several areas in his constituency, including the Seventh Ward under the Urban Habitat Development Board, Palaiyankuttai Manalavalampillai Nagar, wards 4, 5, and 6 of Thimmarajapuram, land under the control of the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments (HR&CE) Department earmarked for Backward Classes welfare, waterbody poramboke land in Ward 5, and residential areas such as Kakkan Nagar, Anna Nagar, Indira Nagar, Periyar Nagar, and Nesaniyar Temple Street. He appealed for pattas to be issued on humanitarian grounds.
Reacting to the speech, Rama Ravikumar shared a video of Abdul Wahab’s remarks on social media and accused the MLA of attempting to legitimise illegal occupation of temple land. Ravikumar stated that the Arulmigu Kalyana Srinivasa Perumal Temple located in Thimmarajapuram, Tirunelveli district, was built by a Nayak ruler named Thimma Raja and is estimated to be between 500 and 1,000 years old.
He wrote, “The Arulmigu Kalyana Srinivasa Perumal Temple located in the village of Thimmarajapuram in Tirunelveli district is a temple built by a Nayak king named Thimma Raja. This temple is approximately 500 to 1,000 years old. The properties belonging to this temple including house plots and agricultural lands, are of considerable value. It is wholly unacceptable and deserves strong condemnation that a DMK legislator named Abdul Wahab has raised a demand in the Legislative Assembly seeking that pattas be issued to persons who are illegally residing on temple land with the intention of encroachment, by extending support to those who have constructed houses and are living on land belonging to the temple. The owner of every temple is not the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department. There is no such thing as property belonging to the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department. In every village, the presiding deity enshrined in the temple is the true owner of that particular temple. Kings and our ancestors had endowed properties to temples so that worship and charitable activities could be carried out properly. Speaking in favour of persons who intend to illegally encroach upon such properties, merely because it is election time and with the narrow-minded objective of securing votes, reflects selfish politics on the part of a legislator of the so-called Dravidian Model government. Those who are illegally residing on temple lands should, in accordance with the law and through the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Department, become lawful tenants, pay the rent that is due to the temple, and refrain from encroaching upon temple properties. Giving such sound advice is what the duty of an elected legislator ought to be. Instead of that, demanding that pattas be granted to illegal occupants of Hindu temple properties is contrary to constitutional principles. Abdul Wahab, who speaks in the Assembly claiming concern for the poor and demanding the issuance of pattas – If you truly wish to show compassion, you may relocate such residents to your own property, or to properties belonging to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or to Wakf Board properties, and issue pattas there, and then claim titles as a protector of the poor. But seeking to hand over Hindu temple property to others, like someone claiming that even the ghee in another man’s house belongs to his own wife, is an extremely wrong and dangerous approach. What answer is the Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments Minister going to give on this issue?”
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