Uttarakhand Govt withdraws Char Dham temple administration law

Opposition by priests and devout Hindu organisations rewarded

Editorial Comment

Hindus expect that the BJP Government at the Centre should free all the Temples across the country from Government control and hand them over to the devotees.

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) – After protests by priests and devout Hindu organisations, the BJP Government of Uttarakhand repealed the Char Dham (Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri and Yamunotri) Devasthanam Management Act. The Pushkar Singh Dhami led Government had approved a bill to repeal this law in the winter session of the Parliament and sent it to the Governor for signature. The law was retracted after the Governor signed it. After this, the Government also issued a notification regarding it. BJP MP Dr Subramanian Swamy had also filed a petition against this law. After the cancellation of this law, the management of Char Dham Temples will be the same as before. The Badrinath Temple Committee will look after the administration of the Temples of Kedarnath and Badrinath, while Yamunotri and Gangotri temples would be managed by committees headed by local priests.

Char Dham will not be handled by the government anymore, but by Bhagwan’s Bhakts

With the repealing of the Devasthanam Board Act 2019, the management of #CharDhams will now be taken care of by #Bhakts themselveshttps://t.co/zoJZJn9tcn

— tfipost.com (@tfipost) March 3, 2022

Former BJP CM Trivendra Singh Rawat had passed the ‘Uttarakhand Char Dham Devasthan Management Act’ in the cabinet meeting on 27th November 2019. It was approved in the assembly on 9th December 2019. Then was sent to the Governor for his signature. This law came into existence after the Governor signed it. The Government had also appointed a trust committee by issuing a notification on 25th February 2020. The CM was its President and the Vice President its Cultural Minister.

U’khand governor approves bill to repeal Devasthanam Board Act; management of Char Dham shrines now back with priests https://t.co/eOOZ3X0wo3

— TOI Cities (@TOICitiesNews) February 28, 2022

The priests of the Char Dham Temples strongly opposed this law, saying that their religious rights were being trampled upon’ and devout Hindus also raised their voices against it. Ultimately, the sitting CM Dhami had to repeal this law.