The decision of the Karnataka government to construct a temple right in the heart of the Bengaluru University (BU) campus has left students fuming.
The same BJP government that banned headscarves (hijab) for Muslim girl students in PU colleges has given the go-ahead for the construction of this temple inside the BU campus.
For three days now, BU students — along with teaching and non-teaching staff — have been relentlessly protesting against Bengaluru’s civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), for going ahead with the construction of the temple.
“We already have 15 temples on the university premises. We do not need a new temple,” Chandru Periyar, president of BU’s PG and PhD Students’ Association, told South First.
The students are opposing the construction of the temple because they are losing out on a “Pathrike Bhavana” — a communication block — that was planned at the site for the benefit of media students of the university.
“Even the administration had favoured us in the decision to build a communication block. Now, the BBMP is building a temple there,” Chandru told South First.
What the issue is all about
The bone of contention is the spot where BBMP has begun the temple construction.
The plot of land is right opposite the Jnanabharathi Police Station and next to the university’s main administration block.
It is in the heart of campus and a stone throw’s away from the Jnanabharathi Community Hall.
“BBMP engineers claim that they have a government order to build the temple, and are just doing their job. They also told us that the previous vice-chancellor Venugopal KR identified the said plot of land for the construction of the temple, and participated in a puja six-to-eight months ago,” said Chandru Periyar.
“On Thursday when we protested against the construction of the temple, we Hindu students were called ‘Dharma virodhis’ (enemies of the religion). How can we students tolerate being called miscreants when we belong to the Hindu religion? We are raising our voices keeping in mind the future of our juniors,” Periyar added.
Why temple is being constructed
BBMP officials told South First that a temple was being constructed at the spot to compensate for land acquired for a road-widening project. The BBMP’s Road Infrastructure Department is widening a stretch of the road from Kengeri until Goreguntepalya.
On the BU premises, near the gate leading to the Ullal Main Road, a portion of a temple structure and its land along with a portion of the quarters have been acquired for road widening.
“Whenever the government acquires a land or a property or demolishes it, it would rebuild anything it has demolished if it is a public entity, and if the land is acquired or property demolished of private parties, then it will compensate them,” a BBMP official told South First.
Students, teachers, and non-teaching staff of the university are urging the government to allot land adjacent to a convention hall in another part of the university that is closer to the spot acquired by the BBMP instead of the prime location right at the heart of the university.
“In this case, 15-20 feet of land along with the temple structure was demolished and it is only around 25-30 percent of the temple that was razed, but now they (the BBMP) want a separate plot of prime land inside the university to build a new temple,” Periyar pointed out.
Teachers and students allege that the temple being constructed near the entrance of the law college would be a nuisance for students academically.
“There would be crowd, hawkers, businesses, mass gatherings, ceremonies, marriages, processions etc, at the temple, which would affect the ambience, atmosphere, and environment, and most importantly the traffic movement and parking spaces inside the university campus. Moreover, the revenue generated in the temple would go to the temple trust and not the university,” says Lokesh Ram, vice-president of Students’ Union.
Standoff between students and BBMP officials
On Wednesday, when the students protested, the BBMP approached the jurisdictional Jnanabharathi police and filed a complaint stating that “miscreants” were obstructing them.
This irked the students, and the teaching and non-teaching staff, who showed up in large numbers and sat in for agitation on Thursday near the plot of land where the BBMP was about to continue the construction of the temple.
The police arrived at the spot and told the students that they could not protest as there was a government order, and that if they wanted to stop it, they could approach the court and get a stay order.
SC orders, UGC guidelines violated: Students
The students argue that the move to build the temple violated Supreme Court orders and University Grants Commission (UGC) guidelines.
The Karnataka State Universities Act of 2000, too, explaines how a university environment should be conducive to students’ development, both academically and socially.
“Even the government cannot arbitrarily take any decisions,” Periyar said.
“It is not that we are against the construction of the temple. They could carry on with the construction of the temple close to the convention hall without disturbing the core areas inside the university,” said Ram.
“We understand that the vice-chancellor and other office-bearers would be politically in favour of this decision, but certainly not in that prime plot of land where a Pathrike Bhavana can come up. This decision has been taken by the college syndicate along with the nods of the VC and other office-bearers. They can choose an alternate plot of land, preferably near the choultry,” he pointed out.
“Moreover, the BBMP has not done any survey of how much land it has acquired for the road-widening and the equivalent amount of land in square-feet measurements to be acquired for building a temple,” Ram added.
BBMP points to government
When the BBMP Road Infrastructure Department Executive Engineer Balaji was contacted, he told South First that he was not the one who decided where temples were to be built.
“There is a government order to build the temple inside the university premise, and we were just doing our job. How long are these students going to study there — 50-60 years?” he asked.
He reiterated the guidelines on BBMP land acquisition and compensation.
The government’s decision to build a temple inside BU comes at a time when the BJP is already facing criticism for “saffronising” education and institutions in Karnataka.
Most recently, the Karnataka primary education department came under fire for a lesson on Vinayak Savarkar flying on the wings of a bird in a Class 8 textbook.
Earlier this year, the government’s textbook review committee was pulled up for introducing errors and misinformation in the syllabuses of schools.
