It’s Not About You: A Tough Love Letter to GenZ

The Silent Jaziya: Why Hindu Temples Still Pay the Price of Faith

🕌 What Was Jaziya?

Jaziya was a tax historically imposed by certain Islamic rulers in India on non-Muslims — particularly Hindus — in exchange for permission to practice their religion under a Muslim state. It wasn’t just about money. It was a symbol of subjugation — a way of reminding communities that their faith existed at the mercy of political authority.

The Mughals (notably Aurangzeb) reintroduced and enforced Jaziya in the 17th century. For millions, it became a representation of religious inequality — a price to be paid for simply being who you were.

India eventually abolished Jaziya under colonial and later constitutional reform. And yet, in quieter, institutionalized ways, a modern version of it survives.

🎯 Temples Today: Controlled, Not Free

Across India today, government departments directly control Hindu temples. In Karnataka, it’s the Muzrai Department; in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, it’s Endowment Boards. These departments:

• Manage temple lands and properties

• Decide how donations are used

• Appoint priests and staff

• Lease temple assets and commercialize festivals

This control is not extended to churches or mosques, which operate freely under their respective religious bodies.

This raises a vital constitutional and moral question:
Are we still paying a kind of Jaziya — not in coins, but in control?

🟨 The Constitution We Promised Ourselves

Let’s revisit the Preamble to the Constitution of India, the moral foundation of our republic:

“We, the People of India, having solemnly resolved to constitute India into a Sovereign Socialist Secular Democratic Republic and to secure to all its citizens:

• Justice, social, economic and political;

• Liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship;

• Equality of status and of opportunity;

• Fraternity assuring the dignity of the individual and the unity and integrity of the Nation.”**

And yet, when only Hindu temples are controlled by the state, these principles are not upheld — they’re violated.

⚖️ What Unequal Control Looks Like

Religious Institution	Who Controls It?	Who Appoints Staff?	Who Manages Donations?
Hindu Temples	Government (Muzrai/Endowments Dept.)	Bureaucrats / Political Appointees	Government-run boards
Mosques	Waqf Board (Community-run)	Religious Community	Waqf Trusts
Churches	Church Trusts	Bishops / Pastors	Church Bodies

This isn’t oversight — it’s institutional asymmetry.

📜 Breaking the Preamble: Point by Point

1. Secularism

In India, secularism means equal respect for all religions. But when only one faith’s institutions are under state control, secularism becomes selective.

2. Liberty of Belief, Faith, and Worship

Liberty doesn’t just mean the right to pray. It includes the freedom to manage and preserve your sacred spaces. That liberty is denied to Hindu devotees.

3. Equality of Status and Opportunity

When church and mosque funds are autonomous — and temple funds are not — equality of status is compromised.

4. Fraternity and Dignity

When one faith community is told it needs government supervision — while others are left alone — dignity suffers. The imbalance chips away at mutual respect.

🧾 What the Courts Have Said

In multiple landmark judgments, the Supreme Court of India has upheld the right of religious communities to manage their own affairs under Article 26:

• In Sri Adi Visheshwara of Kashi Vishwanath Temple v. State of U.P. (1997), the Court affirmed the rights of Hindu religious institutions.

• In the Chidambaram Temple case (2009), the Court ruled against unnecessary state interference in religious administration.

Yet these rulings are not implemented with uniformity. Hindu temples remain the exception — and thus the most vulnerable.

🧡 In Honour of Those Who Gave — Families Who Offered Land, and Faith That Asked for Nothing in Return

I may not have donated land to a temple — but millions of Hindu families across India have.
From humble village shrines to magnificent temple complexes, land and wealth were given — not through legal contracts, but in sacred trust — with the hope that temples would serve dharma and community for generations.

But today, that trust is being broken.

Temple lands are auctioned. Donations are diverted. Bureaucrats make spiritual decisions. And yet, despite this systemic control…

It is the devotees who sweep the floors.
It is the families who light the lamps.
It is the faithful who run the temples — even when governments loot, neglect, or interfere.

These were never just properties. They were acts of devotion — and their seizure is not just administrative.
It is spiritual betrayal.

📣 A Call to Return What Was Never Theirs

This is not a demand for privilege. It is a plea for parity.

Oversight? Yes — when needed, and for all.
Transparency? Absolutely.
But control over sacred institutions must rest with the community that sustains them — not the state that exploits them.

🙏 A Final Question

Should one community alone bear the burden of state control in a secular republic — while others remain free?

Until we correct this injustice, Jaziya may be gone in law — but it lives on in policy.