In Tamil Nadu, the movement seeking a delinking of state and religion misprizes the law’s valueIn the midst of the recent electoral campaign in Tamil Nadu, a movement to free Hindu temples from state control gained some traction. Does the movement want a reversion to the status quo ante that existed before the state intervened in the management of temples? But that freedom, they believed, ought not to be circumscribed by extending to extreme limits the divide between the state and religion. Government has every authority to regulate and restrict a secular function performed by a public religious institution. An examination of the legislation enforced in Tamil Nadu demonstrates that the movement seeking a delinking of state and religion misprizes the law’s value.

Source: The Hindu April 21, 2021 18:22 UTC