Real Hindus are in Congress, those in BJP are fake, says Ramalinga Reddy

The Bill to 'tax' rich Hindu temples is one of the many things on Muzrai & Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s plate.

Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot has asked the government to send to President Droupadi Murmu a Bill that seeks to 'tax' rich Hindu temples. This Bill is one of the many things on Muzrai & Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy’s plate. DH’s Rashmi Belur sits with the senior minister to discuss his portfolios and politics. Excerpts: 

The Muzrai department has taken several proactive steps. Politically, this is being seen as Congress competing with BJP on Hindutva. 

We’re not competing. Actually, BJP people are 'fake' Hindus. They use Hindutva card only to get votes. The real Hindus are in Congress. If they really cared about Hindutva, why did they fail to create authorities for development of temples? If they were so concerned, they should have provided facilities at all Muzrai temples. 

The government hasn’t been able to implement amendments to the Endowments Bill. The BJP accused the government of taxing rich Hindu temples. Even the Governor has refused the sign it. Will the government now send the Bill to President?

Our intention was to help 'C' category temples and priests working there. What’s wrong if we divert revenue from rich temples revenue to ‘C’ category temples? The BJP is misleading the public. The same Governor, who is citing a pending Supreme Court case as the reason to refuse assent, had approved an amendment to the same Act a year ago despite another pending case. We haven't decided about sending the Bill to the President. 

The government has created a few temple development authorities. Are there plans to create more? What’s the dispute between the erstwhile Mysuru royal family and Chamundeshwari Temple Authority?

The royal family filed a case claiming that the temple belonged to them. But the temple was given to Muzrai during British rule. The case is still in court. We have formed authorities to improve facilities at temples. We're planning to soon constitute an authority for Kukke Subrahmanya temple, one of the richest in state. 

What measures has the government taken to clear encroachment of temple properties? 

In association with revenue department, we are surveying Muzrai temples. So far, 15,000 acres have been registered in favour of temples. The remaining 20,000 acres are under process. 

There are complaints about maintenance of Karnataka's temple choultries outside the state, including Tirupati.

In Tirupati, we’ve constructed a new building with modern facilities, which will be inaugurated soon. While awarding tenders, we made 3-star facility mandatory for visitors. The building at Kashi was damaged because of the ghat there. A new building will come up soon. We need renovation at Mantrayala. In Srisailam too, we’re ready to take up construction. But the government there is giving the land on lease only for 10 years, while we’re asking for 50 years. I’ll personally meet my Andhra Pradesh counterpart on this. 

The Shakti scheme is popular, but has pushed transport corporations under loss. 

The BJP tried to tarnish the scheme even before it was implemented. Corporations... we can’t say that they’re under loss, they’re under debt. When we came to power, it was Rs 5,900 crore. These were loans borrowed by BJP government. Salaries were delayed. Now, we've set everything right. Not just Karnataka, loss at transport corporations is universal. Tamil Nadu is facing Rs 19,000-crore loss. Even if there is loss, we need to ply buses. We’ve approved a loan of Rs 2,000 crore, for which government is the guarantor; it’ll be repaid by the government. 

You’ve received praise for adopting schools 

Former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal inspired me for this. I started with schools in my BTM Layout constituency. Government schools in my constituency are nothing less compared to private ones. In total, I have developed 27 schools, of which 22 are in my constituency. There's also one in Anekal, where I studied primary classes.