Friday, February 2, 2018

TR Ramesh Temple Activist

A long Battle to Protect Temple Heritage and Architecture

The Man who combined with Subramaniam Swamy to secure Pothu Dikshithars' hereditary rights at the Chidambaram Temple

‘Ramesh stood by us during the dark period of the HR & CE takeover assuring us that he would fight till the very end for our just cause. In a time and age when most are looking for personal glorification, it is rare to find someone as devoted and committed, and as selfless as him in the fight against injustice at temples in Tamil Nadu’ – Chidambaram Temple’s Sivaraja Dikshithar 

It is a chilly Margazhi morning and the day of the Avathara Utsavam of Vaayilar Nayanar, the only Nayanar from Mylapore. Temple activist TR Ramesh, a former banking professional and a staunch Saivite devotee well versed in the Thevaram and other sacred verses is at the Kapaleeswarar Temple to fight the HR & CE department on the issue of the temporary music and dance stage that had been erected right in front of the Nayanar Sannidhi. He is seen frantically calling the JC of the temple enquiring about the removal of the stage with the Abhishekam just a few hours away.

In the evening, at the Pushpa Pallakku street procession, around 400 delighted devotees are seen thanking him profusely for his tireless effort in helping remove the obstructions and facilitating the proper conduct of the annual festival.

The additional constructions such as Anna Dhana Koodams, toilets and new sannidhis that have come up in many ancient temples thus destroying its heritage and architecture is one of the big battles Ramesh has been involved in with the HR & CE in the last few years.

Chidambaram Pothu Dikshithars’ case
January 6 (this year – 2018) marked the fourth anniversary of the landmark judgment and a historic victory for Pothu Dikshithars of the Chidambaram Sabanayakar temple. It was Ramesh’s first big success in his battle against the HR & CE. While the verdict was being pronounced that morning at the Supreme Court, Ramesh was at the Ayodhya Mandapam, in West Mambalam physically stalling efforts by the HR & CE to take over the Samajam and within an hour of the Supreme Court verdict, the Madras HC had provided a stay to HR & CE’s attempted takeover. It was a dual victory for Ramesh that day.

He has since successfully stopped the takeover of  5 ancient temples in TN including Lakshmi Narasimha Perumal Temple, Chromepet, Kandhaswamy Temple, Kandhakottam and Aiyyapan Temple, Kodungaiyur. 

He also stalled the construction of the Raja Gopuram at the Padalathri temple in Singaperumal Koil and is currently taking on the HR & CE against the construction of a new modern Raja Gopuram at the over 1000years old Kurupapureeswarar temple in Thiruvennainallur, near Villupuram. 
He is confident that the planned construction of the new Raja Gopuram at Thiru Vellarai Divya Desam near Srirangam too will be stopped.

The fight against HR & CE
When the judgment was pronounced against the Pothu Dikshithars in 2009, it was Ramesh’s father, an erudite Saivite Scholar that they first approached for the next action in the fight for their rights. Ramesh took up the task of putting together the entire research material including a paragraph wise rebuttal for Shri Subramanian Swamy to fight the case in the Supreme Court. His research on Chidambaram temple and the law relating to temple rights were sharpened and honed during the research period of almost 5years. 

His initial angst against the HR & CE was driven by the Hundies that came up in multiple places within the Chidambaram temple soon after the 2009 Madras High Court order handing the temple to the HR & CE. He found that this had a direct impact on the livelihood of the Dikshithars and diminished a substantial portion of the Dhakshina monies. In the name of the prasadam stall, he says they sold food that was made outside. But what really infuriated Ramesh was the notices HR & CE sent to all the Dikshithars to get them registered so they could appoint and recognize a few as Archakas, for he saw this as a plan to create division among the Dikshithar families.

That was when he started using the RTI Act to secure information about the HR & CE administered temples and found to his dismay a number of violations in the functioning of the temples. He filed over 700 applications and the information provided him with significant insights into the lack of processes and systems in the administration of the temples.

In 2015, he filed five Writ Petitions questioning the appointment and presence of Executive Officers in five of the big temples and another one challenging the appointment of HR & CE staff as Fit Persons in temples. A few months ago, he issued notices to the Commissioner relating to 17 temples where there were no orders of appointment of EOs.  It was after his writ that the department framed the rules for the appointment of EOs under the HR & CE Act for the first time in 55 years. His case on improper civil works in temples in the name of Thiruppani has now been tagged along with the Suo Moto Heritage case at the Madras High Court.

Chidambaram’s Sivaraja Dikshithar
80 year old M. N Sivaraja Dikshithar is a scholar extraordinaire and a master of Sanskrit, Tamil, English and Hindi. He has seen the highs and lows at the Chidambaram temple over the last 7 decades and is all praise for the efforts of Ramesh

 ‘Hundreds of the Pothu Dikshithar families are grateful to Ramesh for his selfless service of five years in helping us secure our historical rights. It was a terrible time for the Pothu Dikshithars after the adverse verdict in 2009 and many went into depression. It was Ramesh who stood by us during that dark period assuring us that he would fight till the very end for our just cause. In a time and age when most are looking for personal glorification, it is rare to find someone as devoted and committed, and as selfless as him in the fight against injustice at temples in Tamil Nadu.’


Dedicating his life to Protecting Ancient Temples
He understands that fighting such a large institution managing close to 40000 temples will be a very long drawn out process but is committed to fulfilling the promise given to Late Shri Dayanand Saraswathi, just a month prior to his death, that he would dedicate his entire life to protecting the heritage and architecture of ancient temples and not give up this fight unmindful of the challenges that may come his way.

Five Areas of Concern
Ramesh says he will be relentless in his pursuit of taking on the HR & CE in issues relating to the department’s interference in religious matters, non protection of temple properties and non realization of income, issues relating to auctioning of prasadam stalls and the like, diversion of temple funds to non temple purposes and the flawed process of Thiruppani including demolition of ancient sculptures and heritage in the name of renovation.

After the unsavoury incident at the Kapaleeswarar Temple in Margazhi, devotees of the temple are now  coming together to form a Temple Worshippers Forum in Mylapore to fight collectively as a group irregularities and hurdles they face with the HR & CE department. 
This Ramesh believes is a great sign in meeting his objective of getting HR & CE to act in the spirit of what the Act had really intended all those decades ago - the role of looking after the properties of the temple and realising the due income from them. He says that the fight against injustice in Temples has risen rapidly in recent years and is confident that this will soon become an avalanche and that Justice will finally prevail.

His Temple Activism successes thus far include helping secure rights for the Pothu Dikshathars of Chidambaram, stalling takeover bid of HR & CE in 5 temples, preventing arbitrary civil works in several temples, helping the Proper Conduct of the Vaayilar Nayanar Avathara Utsavam in Mylapore and forcing HR & CE to frame the rules of EO appointment for the first time. And in 2018, he is raring to go further taking the HR & CE on even more..

He is currently in the process of filing a Writ of Mandamus seeking direction that HR & CE will publish all the information, voluntarily, relating to the temples under section 4 of the RTI Act and another writ against the transfer of temple funds for non temple purposes. He is also planning to file a Writ relating to illegal presence of EOs in many temples and a Writ seeking handing over 40 temples back to original trustees.


With his complete understanding of the HR & CE Act, Ramesh is now readying himself to go the full distance in his battle against the HR & CE with the Temple Worshippers Society funding his temple activism initiatives. He has just started ‘belling the cat’ and many more across the country are now joining him in this endeavour.  Ramesh has drawn inspiration from enquiries he has been receiving from the trustees of several temples across the Southern States seeking his counsel in their fight to keep the department away from their respective temple. It is a clear sign of the increased awareness of the rights to administer temples. 

(A version of this story featured in The Hindu Friday Review today)

30 comments:

Krishna said...

Prabhu Swamin:

Can you please provide the contact information of Shri TN Ramesh swamin?

Thank you for your time in highlighting all these happenings.

adiyen,
Krishna

PRabhu S said...

would it be possible to email me with your details and also as to the reason for his number.

or would it be possible for you to calll me.

prabhu

Unknown said...

Sir please send your phone number,I am living in ThiruAnnamalai.my no.is 9442455696.

PRabhu S said...

Whose phone number and what is this regarding?

Prabhu

Unknown said...

trramesh@me.com
Respected Sir,
I read your article titled கோயில் சொத்துக்களை மோசடி செய்யும் அரசு published in Dinamalar dated 01 November 2019, Chennai edition. I do not have words to describe my sorrow as I get to know about the mean & corrupt ways of the politicians of the Tamil Nadu government.
I would like to know about the Shiva temple
Whose lands were leased to Loyola college to whom the British leased the lands and the lease period is coming to an end.
My email address is
kausalya_sankaran@hotmail.com
My husband's mobile phone number is 9940093628 & mine is 8825853136
anticipating your reply.
I have not had a chance to read about your selfless service to the Hindu temples. All I can do is pray for you & people like you
& wish you health and peace so the Hindus like you will come together, gain strength and work to save our temples
Thank you, Sir,
Kausalya Sankaran

Dr brijesh sati said...

Dear sir m from Uttarakhand. Would like to ur help. Please give me ur contact no

Unknown said...

Sirrr...I really wanted to meet you...so that I can spare a little help in joining u....pls guide me and hats off for the works done...

Unknown said...

Hello,
I am a LLM student. I am doing research on the topic of temple property administration. For that I am collecting details from the concerned persons. Can I get Mr. TR.Ramesh sir mail ID to discuss about that.

PRabhu S said...

Request you to please call me or email me.
Prabhu

Unknown said...

Hello Prabhu sir,
Could you please give me your mail ID.

Unknown said...

Ohm sir can you trying for all koil reopen pls any have will do sir

Unknown said...

Dear ramesh sir pls can you any have take legally action for all Tamilnadu koils opening. iam trust you sir

Unknown said...

Ohm ramesh sir can you take any have legally action for all tamilnadu koil opening pls iam always trust you

Bala said...

Respected Sir, Pranams. I need some information on a 500 y (pre british period) old temple (now not in existence except for few idols left after theft) having some property enjoyed by well to do persons. I would like to get the temple built afresh and property brought under the temple to earn for temple's future administration.
Thank you, Regards, Bala

onsury said...

Was Mr. Ramesh part of the Times Network? They had a bank in which there was a Ramesh, is this that same person?

ganesh said...

It will be great helpful if Case number listed here, It it will be helpful to refer in Similar case details.

Nagu said...

Prabhu sir, can you please share your number. I need big help from Mr.Ramesh sir

Nagu said...

Prabhu sir, can you please share your number. I need big help from Mr.Ramesh sir

Sudarshan said...

Is most of this not lifted from a piece in The Hindu??

PRabhu S said...

Sir,

I wrote the story in The Hindu.

Prabhu

PRabhu S said...

And the ref to The Hindu has been mentioned at the bottom of the story.

Unknown said...

It is utmost important, to Bring the Nobel minds under a single "agenda" to restore the Temples from the clutches of these Corrupt Govts. Any Fuitful viable Legal methods, should be proposed and agreed. I see Bala, Ganesh are genrous donors, who are committed to renovate the temples. I would request them to pardan me and consider - that the need of the Hour is, to put all your efforts and funds, to "bringout the Temples from Govt", which has enormous potential to sustain on its own! that is How, our Mindful rulers of the past, created the system. But today's rulers, have cleared the very information and made us blind.

Unknown said...

I wish share certain confidential issues. If you want please contact me.
9894380717

Unknown said...

Sir please send me TR Ramesh sir contact no, we also having temple in Chennai and we want to restore the trust board from Hr&ce control.

PRabhu S said...

Request you to call me or send an email with details. And I shall fwd to Shri Ramesh.

Prabhu

Unknown said...

Dear sir.....can you please provide ramesh sir phone number as a corrupted company who is having a a DVAC enquiry against them and who has been terminated for malpractices in Thirupathi temple is running housekeeping and security services in major temoles in tamilnadu and looting public and devotees money

Unknown said...

Dear Mr. Ramesh,
In the first instance, I pray to the Lord to give you good health and long life to fight to finish the DMK once for all. I am aged 83, I hail from the Kilvelur town in Nagai dt. There the Lord Siva is Named Sri Akshayalingswamy, sung by Saint Muthuswamy Deekshadar in ragam Sankarabranam * Akshayalingvibho* only MS and Balamurlikrishna use to sing and you watch in youtube. I have witnessed big festivals like Panchamurthy Purappadu etc. car festivals adoned and engaged by legend Nathaswara vidwans/. Before it is too late the matter need to be finished to the end of DMK*s fall within next few months. The Home Ministry may also be approached to put behind bars, the corruptive DMK MPs who are already involved in case. That can bring a fear complex to DMK in the first instance followed by our fight.Sivan sothu kula nasam, the family of DMK ruler no wonder will be punished by GOD we believe. K. Lakshmanan (83)

Anonymous said...

Does anybody know which caste T.R.Ramesh belongs to? Is he a vellala?

HRCE is a game of nagarathar-vellalar (Dravidian) movement and all-caste-priesthood is a highly insidious game of Saiva Vellalas and Dravida Mudaliar Kazhagam. The existing priests, adi Saiva, are already non-brahmin only. Adi Saiva are vellala dogs.

Chidambaram temple is managed by chettiars. Subramoron Swamy and other brahmtarda are talking of rescuing Chidambaram temple of the chettiars, from the Dravidian movement, of the Chettiars. The Chettiar dogs are probably having a hearty laugh everyday.

Chettiar-Mudaliar-Pillao are the creators of the 'dravidian' sociopolitical worldview, as well as of a hundred years of toxic brahmin hate. But, they are also the trustees of the so-called 'agamic' temples. What do you mean "fighting the HRCE to return the temples to the trustees"?? I know brahmtards don't see the game.

Is T.R.Ramesh another such brabmtard? Or is he having a hearty laugh every night too?

Unknown said...

Namaskaram sir iam govintharajan living in vennandur We need to talk about the occupation of the Anjaneyar temple my village my contact number:6381002818

Anonymous said...

In same problem inTirupur Hr&ce not giving proper orders for Temple Fit persons through RTI Kildly send your phone no for further Discussion.Thank you Sir