INDIA, June 24, 2016 (Swarajya): The Andhra Pradesh government has asked state officials to evict non-Hindu farmers from agricultural land belonging to Hindu temples or mutts. No such land can now be cultivated by a non-Hindu, it said. The state government had issued the official order in November last year but is now following up on it, as the kharif (monsoon) season is starting and land leases are being renewed. “No person professing a religion other than Hinduism is entitled to obtain lease either through tender-cum-public auction or otherwise,” said the state government.
The Times Of India reports today (24 June) that the Andhra government began serving notices earlier this month to non-Hindu tenant farmers to immediately hand over the land belonging to temples and mutts. Dalit Christian tenants could continue cultivating if they produced a certificate from the church declaring they aren’t Christians. The certificate has perhaps been made mandatory because in the state there are many Dalits who have converted to Christianity but haven’t changed their names. So, this would ensure that their true number can be known. Muslim farmers have no such respite. They have been barred altogether.
Temples in Andhra are large landowners. But since they are controlled by the government, land effectively belongs to the state. Around 300,000 acres of land belongs to the temples and 30 percent of the farmers cultivating them are Dalits. The temple authorities have issued notices to all the non-Hindus to comply with the government notification. It is pertinent to note that last year in June, the Andhra government had passed an order prohibiting temple lands from being sold or given on long lease to companies and individuals.