Temple boom in Gujarat's tribal district to 'counter religious conversion'

Hundred temples of Lord Hanuman have already been constructed, while 211 more are to be built to finish the task of building a temple in each of the 311 villages in Dang district which witnessed its first anti-Christian riotings nearly two decades ago.

Dang: "Yagya for 311 temple of Hanuman in Dang district," announces a hoarding in Gujarati with a picture of Goa-based religious leader Padma Shri Sadguru Brahmeshanand Acharya Swami. It is kept beside the Lord Hanuman temple which was inaugurated back in February this year by the Swami.

This is one of over 100 temples already built in as many villages in tribal dominated Dang district. 211 more such temples in as many villages are planned to be constructed in the next two years. The idea of the organisations involved in the construction is to build a Hanuman temple in each of the 311 villages of the district, located in the southernmost part of the state bordering Maharashtra, which is famous for its lush green jungles and hills. 

The purpose is allegedly said to be countering Christian evangelism in the district. Locals said that every village has a church, which may not have a concrete structure but a hut turned into a makeshift church with a cross and its denominations. 

The Lord Hanuman temples are being built by Shree Ramkrishna Welfare Trust, diamond baron and BJP Rajya Sabha MP Govind Dholakia-run SRK Knowledge Foundation, and Prayosha Pratisthan, run by Dang-based religious leader PP Swami.

Dang is considered to be one of the most backward districts in the nation where a large number of people migrate towards Surat and neighbouring Maharashtra as farm labourers.

When asked about the reason behind building temples in every village, Dholakia's office responded what a large hoarding, placed on the roadside about three km from Ahwa, the district headquarters, said, "Shree Ramkrishan Welfare Trust has been organising medical camps for the past 30 years and in 2017 PP Swami and Govindkaka while passing through a village saw a statue of Hanuman kept against a tree in the open sky. It was then they decided to build a temple in 311 villages in all three talukas of the district and that's how the campaign started."

Asked whether any permission was taken before constructing so many temples, district collector Mahesh Patel told DH that "he was not aware."

A senior officer, requesting not to be quoted, said that the organisations directly contact the panchayat heads and decide the locations. "Sometimes," he added, "protests have also been reported against such constructions."

These temples are of three types which, according to Dholakia's office, cost about Rs 15 lakh to Rs 25 lakh. These temples are largely identical and constructed on main roads where they are quite dominantly displayed. The temples have statues of Lord Hanuman at the sanctum while the outer walls of the mandap or halls have Hanuman Chalisa, Hanuman Aarti and Lord Ram's bhajan written on them.

In his early 20s, Pravin Gamit was sitting on the wall of a temple busy playing a video game on his phone in a village about 10 km from Ahwa. The road to the temple passes through the picturesque landscapes. The incessant rains have turned Gujarat's only hill station into a lush green canopy.

One of the temples built in tribal dominated Dang district. 

"This temple was built recently and usually I come here to sit and chit chat with friends. There is no permanent priest here. One of the villagers does the cleaning and pooja," he said.

"No doubt it is targeted against Christian organisations involved in religious conversion but building temples like this is not an answer. There is so much gap between what is being offered (by Hindu organisations) to tribals and what is required to be done at the ground level. The poor tribals keep shifting their allegiance before the leaders of both the communities who offer them goods or money. On occasions like Christmas, some organisations would assemble them and sprinkle ganga jal to claim to have brought them back to Hindu fold or what they call ghar vapasi. It is a waste as it is not changing anything. The locals need job opportunities, good education and not temples in such huge numbers," said a religious leader, who has set up a sprawling ashram in the lush green jungle.

Controversial Past

With a population of 2.28 lakh as per 2011 census, the district witnessed its first anti-Christian riots nearly two decades ago over religious conversions. In 1998, large-scale rioting had taken place in various villages during Christmas. Every year since then, security is deployed or cops are on alert near the churches during the festivities. 

Controversial religious leader Swami Aseemanand, originally from West Bengal, is reported to have landed in the district as an RSS worker in Vanvasi Kalyan Ashram. With BJP coming to power in Gujarat from mid 90s, Aseemanand's stature also rose as a force against Chrisitian organisations' allegedly involved in religious conversion. 

Aseemanand is said to be the brain behind setting up a sprawling temple Shabrdham in Subir, where Shabri is believed to have fed berries to Lord Ram during exile as narrated in Ramayan. After the 1998 riots, the district saw the biggest mobilization of tribals in 2006 after Shabri Seva Samiti, headed by Aseemanand, held Shabri Kumbh Mela for the first time where RSS, VHP and BJP functionaries gathered in large numbers. 

Nine years after his arrest in alleged Hindu terror cases and his acquittals in 2019, Aseemanand got back to Dang where he is heading the Samiti, which manages the temple's affairs. In 2022, he hit headlines after expelling local BJP leader Vijay Patel from Samiti's membership for bringing few Christian leaders inside the temple. 

Ahmedabad-based Jesuit priest Father Cedric Prakash, known as a human rights and peace activist, says that building temples in large numbers is nothing but tactics to "polarise the tribals."

He said, "The Advent of  Christianity in the  Dangs goes back to the 19th Century. Over the years , particularly post- independence, the Christians brought to the tribals quality education and excellent healthcare services . This remote area of Gujarat lacked these  basic facilities. With  the emergence of Christian institutions in the district, which brought them educational and other facilities ,the tribals gradually became more empowered with their own cultural and social identity. Some of them did embrace  Christianity which is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution. But, they (RSS, etc) refer to them as 'vanvasi', a nomenclature which is not acceptable to them. They demand and want to recognised as Adivasis which is their distinct and specific identity."