No Freedom of Faith in Seven Hiklls in Andhra !!

After Special Economic Zones, it is the turn of Special Religious Zones, and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Rajshekhar Reddy shows the way
[John Dayal’s Note: Without meaning any disrespect to the Deity of Tirumalla, and in full solidarity with the devotees and their reverence to Lord Venkateswara, one must n articulate the several questions that have been raised by the controversial decision of the Congress government of Andhra Pradesh, led by Chief minister Rajshekhar Reddy, in the hasty Ordnance, or backdoor law, which effectively bans all non Hindu activity – worship, social work, educational institutions, freedom of religion and religious profession, presumably also Wakf – in the seven hills of the Tirumalla range in the south of the State, and close to its borders with Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Mr. Reddy now joins Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in becoming one of two Congress leaders who defy their party ideology to pander to the tastes of micro-minority fundamentalists within the majority religious group in their States. One understands the pressures on Mr. Reddy. One understands Mr. Reddy’s compulsions and his survival instincts. He is the only Christian ruler of a predominantly Hindu province. The other Christians of the North East have an electorate majority from their community. That is a signal pressure. Secondly, the RSS and its organisations have nationally and internationally targeted Mr. Reddy in a hate campaign that picks on his religion. He is routinely branded the son of a Pentecost or Protestant father. He is always called by his presumably Christian name, Samuel, and not Rajshekhar, when RSS journals write about him. He is accused, absolutely falsely of course, of supporting, even encouraging Christians. And during his recent visit to the United States, Hindu Non Resident Indian organisations with their loyalty to the RSS staged ugly protests against him, one of which became physical.All that is part of Indian reality. But the Ordinance may be violative of the Constitution of India and may go against t the Supreme Court ruling in the Hindutva case [by chief justice J S Varma} which held that Hinduism was a way of life, that it did not have a single Book or a single founder, and that any person could see the Lord in his or her own way, even in a stone. No other religion in the world has a place entirely its own, where no else can enter. The Vatican, a model for many upstarts, allows anyone to worship in his or her own way, and indeed one can see many Hare Krishna devotees on its streets. Rome has a mosque and of Hindus wanted it, or Sikhs for that matter, they could have temple or a Gurudwara. Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, and Jerusalem, his `Karma Bhoomi and punya Bhoomi’ is holy to three religions, including Islam. Nankana Sahib, which I had the immense pleasure to visit some years ago, is holy to the Sikhs, but is open to all religions’. Even fundamentalist and military dictatorships in Pakistan have maintained the secular environ of Nankana sahib. Amritsar, the Holy Sikhs home for the lovely Golden Temple Har Mandir, is open to all, despite a few terrorists occasionally demanding a purge of all non Sikh activity, mercifully not sponsored by the Akali Dal or the Akal Takht. Mecca and Medina, now in the Islamic kingdom of Saudi Arabia, following a Wahabi theology, is barred to non-Muslims. But this is historically a comparatively recent phenomenon. Many Sufi Indian saints and Central Asian scholars in earlier centuries visited Mecca, according to their songs and writings. Guru Nanak Dev Ji had good things to say of Mecca. He wanted to be told if there was a place without God.But India is a secular state, and this fact is enshrined in the Constitution. If Tirumalla is holy to one Deity, Guruvayur is holy to another. Madurai and Thanjavur are also holy places. So is Benares. Gaya and Sanchi are holy to the Buddhists. Ajmer Sharif is a holy Sufi Islamic Shrine. Hazratbal in Srinagar makes the city holy, and the entire Himalayan range is the abode of the Gods, literally. And then there is Kurukhshetra, the place where the Lord Krishna personally revealed the Gita to Arjuna. The great thing about India is that this list is endless. Should they be barred to non Hindus, or Non Muslims, or to Non Sikhs, or to Non Buddhists. What happens to Freedom of faith in Tirumalla? What happens to Article 30? What happens to a lot of many other things, including the right of the Hindus themselves to get medical assistance and education from anyone they chose? What happens to the freedom of faith of the Dalits, OBCs, Christians and others who live in the area to practice the faith of their choice? What happens to the concept of India if one art of it is not rally a part of it? We are opposing Special Economic Zones – because the writ of India does not run in those territories.I oppose Special Religious Zones.]
Tirumalla Hills only for Hindus: Ordinance
HINDUSTAN TIMES, NEW DELHI, JUNE 9, 2007
Responding to the outcry from Hindu religious groups who have been protesting over recent attempts to preach other faiths at the holy shrine of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumalla, the Andhra Pradesh government has notified that the seven hills of Tirumalla would remain a place of worship only for Hindus and has prohibited propagation of other religions.Chief Minister Dr YS Rajshekhar Reddy told a news conference on Friday evening that his government has issued an Ordinance on June 2 in this regard and the order comes into effect immediately. The Ordinance also recognised the jurisdiction of Lord Venkateswara, popularly known as "Lord of the Seven Hills" and declared the seven hills surrounding the temple as a place of worship and thus banned all political activities including conduct of local bodies polls."Against the backdrop of a long history of cherished cultural legacy and sanctified Hindu tradition, the Government of Andhra Pradesh has decided that the sanctity of the Seven hills and the Temple of Lord Venkateswara needs to be preserved as a unique religious area where the Hindu traditions shall be preserved and allowed to be nurtured as they have continuously been over the last two millennium. In order to achieve this objective, it has been felt appropriate to accord to all the Seven Hills and the Temple Town of Tirumalla a special status as a place of religious importance by giving it a special dispensation and nomenclature," Reddy said."Accordingly, the Tirumalla Hills area comprising all the seven hills, the holy teerthams and the central shrine of Lord Venkateswara will henceforth be called Tirumalla Divya Kshetram," Reddy said and added that this special dispensation would ensure that only spiritual and religious activity went on in the seven hills area. No elections or political activity was permitted. The Tirumalla Divya Kshetram shall comprise all the seven hills called Seshadri, Garudadri, Venkatadri, Narayanadri, Vrishabhadri, Vrishadri and Anjanadri right from the foothills on all sides, the GO stated. "It shall be the primary duty of the Tirumalla Tirupathi Devasthanams management to continue uninterruptedly with utmost devotion the traditional rituals and practices and no other religion shall be allowed to be propagated in Tirumalla Divya Kshetram area by words, either spoken or written or by signs or visible representation or by distributing any printed material or other forms of religious literature in terms of Section 2(1) of AP Propagation of Other Religions in the Places of Worship or Prayer (Prohibition) Ordinance 2007 promulgated on May 22, 2007," the Government order pointed out. The Executive Officer of Tirumalla Tirupathi Devasthanams have been empowered under Section 114 of the AP Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987 to take action to prevent begging, consumption of intoxicating liquor, drugs or cigarettes, meat or meat products. Slaughter of animals or birds, gaming and gambling are expressly prohibited under this Act. All these provisions are intended to ensure that the entire Tirumalla Hills area continues to be a spiritual sanctuary that it has been all through," the GO added.The Ordinance also covers 19 other places of worship.
The HINDUDate:09/06/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/06/09/stories/2007060903390600.htm
Special Correspondent Temple town and seven hills declared holy place HYDERABAD: The temple town of Tirumalla, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, and the seven hills surrounding it have been accorded special status by the State Government as a place of religious importance by declaring them a holy place. Through an order, the Government said the "Tirumalla Divya Kshetram", the name of the holy place, shall comprise the seven hills of Seshadri, Garudadri, Venkatadri, Narayanadri, Vrishabhadri, Vrishadri and Anjanadri, right from the foothills, the holy teerthams to the main shrine. Roads and footpaths leading up to the temple, including the first and second ghat roads between Tirupathi and Tirumalla, and the motorable road from Tirumalla to Papavinasanam were declared part of the Kshetram. Ordinance promulgated An Ordinance was promulgated earlier by the Government on May 22 prohibiting the propagation of any religion other than what was traditionally practiced in places of worship. As a follow-up, the Government notified the places of worship covered by the Ordinance — the Kshetram area, 10 teerthams within the Tirumalla Tirupathi Devasthanams (TTD) limits and 20 temples elsewhere in the State. The order designated the TTD Executive Officer as in-charge of the civic administration of the hills area. He will have the authority normally exercised by a sarpanch or the executive authority under the Panchayat Raj Act. No elections or political activity shall be permitted. © Copyright 2000 - 2006 The Hindu