The outburst by Bharatiya Janata Party over the decision of paying monthly remuneration of Rs 5,000 to pastors by the Andhra Pradesh government has given yet another weapon to Bharatiya Janata Party to attack chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
BJP national secretary Sunil Deodhar took serious exception to Jagan government’s decision and described it as blasphemous to favour a particular religion.
“How can the government spend public funds to pay Christian pastors, especially when pastors mock & proselytize deprived & poor people of other religion?” he asked and said it would add fuel fire.
The BJP Andhra Pradesh unit also tweeted accusing the Jagan government of spending public funds to favour Christians.
The tweets follow a memo issued by the minorities welfare department to collectors of all districts on August 27, directing them to carryout enumeration of pastors in their jurisdictions for payment of the monthly remuneration of Rs 5,000 as promised by Jagan in his party’s election manifesto.
The collectors were advised to make use of the services of recently recruited village volunteers in collecting the pastors’ data. The circular has drawn protests from different social sections.
But what the saffron party forgot was that the Jagan government had also issued a similar circular for identification of temple priests for payment of honorarium and increase in the honorarium for those who were already getting the payment.
This circular was issued by revenue (endowments) department secretary Dr Manmohan Singh on August 20 itself.
According to the circular, the government has dispensed with the system of retirement for priests, increase the remuneration being paid to priests working in specified temples by 25 percent and payment of Rs 10,000 to Rs 35,000 per month to small temples (based on population in respective villages) to meet doopa-dheepa expenses and to pay remuneration to the priests.
The order also mentioned that house sites should be allotted to priests and houses be built. This was also one of the promises made by Jagan during the election campaign.
So, why the BJP leaders are making so much fuss on the pastors’ payment?