Annamalai Statement on Chidambaram Natarajar Temple Issue
He issued a statement in this regard: "The Hindu Religious Charities Department of tamil Nadu government is continuously working to destroy the worship practices of chidambaram Nataraja temple, which is more than a thousand years old. It is well known that the Kanakasabha at chidambaram Nataraja temple will not be allowed for public use for four days after the annual Anith Thirumanjanam festival. The government officials and the minister should remember that the tamil Nadu government's intention to control the chidambaram Nataraja temple, which is not under the management of the Hindu Religious Endowment Department, is an insult not only to the devotees, but also to the madras high court and the supreme Court.
13.12.1951, after the hearing of Petition 2591/1951, the Hon'ble madras high court held that the chidambaram Dikshidars, under the authority conferred by Article 26 of the Constitution of India, are a Denominated Community of hinduism and after hearing the Petition 668/1951, They have also clarified that the administrative authority of the chidambaram Nataraja temple rests only with the Dikshitars.
Against this, in 1953, the madras Provincial Government's case in the supreme court was dismissed. Also, according to the Hindu Religious Endowments Act 107 enacted in 1959, it is very clear that the tamil Nadu government has no authority over the temples managed by the Denominated Community. Like today's encroachment, in the previous DMK regime, a government order was issued in 2009 to bring the chidambaram Nataraja temple under the management of the Hindu Religious Endowments Department. In a case against this ordinance, the supreme court declared the ordinance issued by the tamil Nadu government to be illegal. In september 2014, the tamil Nadu government withdrew this ordinance.
From the day the DMK came to power in 2021, chidambaram Nataraja temple has been continuously put into administrative hiatus and all efforts are being made to take over the temple by the charity department. The Government's demand that the jewels of the chidambaram Nataraja temple be audited was accepted by the Dikshids and audited by Government. This incompetent DMK government, which was in despair of not being able to find any flaw in it, is continuously working to create some problems in the chidambaram Nataraja temple.
In May last year, the tamil Nadu government issued an ordinance in violation of jurisdiction. The Dikshidars did not oppose even the edict issued with the announcement that everyone can climb Kanakasabha and worship. During the Anith Thirumanjanam ceremony, as all the temple jewels are adorned to Thillai Nataraja, Kanakasabha is not allowed for public use for four days due to security reasons. Strict action should be taken against officials who trespassed in a temple, not under the administrative jurisdiction of the Hindu Religious Endowments Department and interfered with the temple proceedings.
There is an allegation that the Special district Collector of the tamil Nadu government, which is maintaining the 3500 acres of land owned by chidambaram Nataraja temple, has not reported the income from that land for the last 15 years and has not paid the revenue from that land to chidambaram Nataraja temple for the last 15 years. Hindu Religious Endowments minister Shekhar Babu should give an answer to this.
Minister Shekhar Babu, who is acting in defiance even of the madras High Court's order to conduct a private audit of the revenue expenditure of more than 37,000 temples under the management of the Hindu Religious Endowments Department, should realize his jurisdiction.
The incompetent DMK should stop watching the looting of temple properties under the management of the Hindu Religious Endowment Department and creating new problems in the temples to hide the woes of the regime. The activities of the incompetent DMK are not only against the Hindu religion but also against the constitution and court rulings.
"I humbly inform you that DMK, which is spreading atheism without faith in any sacred doctrine of hinduism and is sheltering the crowd that defames Hindu Gods, interferes further in the management of chidambaram Nataraja temple," said annamalai in his statement.