Posted by: Homeyji July 29, 2011
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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/south-asia/Pashupatinath-dragged-to-court-again/articleshow/9410245.cms
KATHMANDU: Two years after Nepal's then Maoist-headed government tried to sack the Indian priests at the Pashupatinath temple, the shrine revered by billions of Hindus worldwide, and triggered international outcry, it is now the turn of the new communist-led ruling coalition to try wrest control of the 17th century shrine, an attempt that has triggered a fresh court battle.
On Friday, seven officials of the Pashupatinath Area Development Trust, that runs the temple, filed separate petitions in the Supreme Court against Nepal's new Culture Minister Khagendra Prasain, alleging they were wrongfully sacked. Prasain belongs to a minor left party, the Communist Party of Nepal-Marxist Leninist, which is a junior partner in the coalition government of Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal.
On Wednesday, the new communist minister, who is also the chairman of the trust, sacked the seven officials and appointed his own men, including a cousin. Now the dismissed group is asking the apex court to stay the new appointments on the ground that they were appointed for four years, out of which only 25 months have elapsed. They have also contended in their petitions that they did not face any complaints during this tenure, which makes their dismissal unlawful.
The politicization of the sacred shrine started from 2006 after the fall of King Gyanendra's regime. The subsequent government removed the queen, who used to be the patron of the trust, and attending religious events at the temple became an occasion for political rivalry between the deposed king and the then prime minister Girija Prasad Koirala instead of an occasion of piety.
The most controversial move was made by the Maoist government in 2009 when the then Maoist culture minister Gopal Kiranti pressured the Indian priests at the temple into quitting and began appointing Nepali priests loyal to the party. It created a furore worldwide and the Indian government as well as parties like the BJP condemned the interference.
Though the outcry forced the Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda government to reinstate the Indian priests, its successor, the communist alliance of Madhav Kumar Nepal, once more ruffled Hindi feathers when his government tried to open the padlocked treasury of Pashupatinath and proposed that the riches found there should be placed in a museum for safekeeping.
Nepal's religious communities have proposed that all religious institutions be kept outside the jurisdiction of the government. They have proposed that the new constitution should have a religious commission with the power to oversee such institutions.