Bangalore: ISKCON `Financial Fraud’ to be Probed by House Panel

From Our Special Correspondent  - Bangalore
Daijiworld Media Network

Bangalore, Jul 23: The BJP government headed by chief minister B S Yeddyurappa has ordered a probe into allegations of a ``huge financial fraud’’ in the widely acclaimed `Akshaya Patra’ mid-day meal programme run by the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) here by a house committee of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly.

Responding to the detailed expose by former minister and Congress leader D K Shivakumar in the assembly on Thursday, state law and parliamentary affairs minister S Suresh Kumar announced that the chief minister wanted truth to come out and said the government had no objection to the setting up of a house panel by speaker Jagadish Shettar.

Alleging that the functioning of ISKCON, which is now subject of litigation in the Karnataka high court, left much to be desired in view of the large-scale financial irregularities, the KPCC working president demanded a CBI probe and urged the government to apprise the Centre about the ramphant irregularities.

The Congress leader went to the extent of demanding government take-over of the entire temple complex. He wanted the state government to appoint an administrator to set right matters as ISKCON was receiving huge grants from the Central and State Government besides donations from within the country and abroad.

During the last one year, ISKCON raised more than $ 21 lakh in the US for running the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme, he said and urged the government to find out the total money raised by the Akshaya Patra Foundation in India and aborad and the money actually spent.

Charging that ISKCON was being run as a "family business" and indulging in real estate business in the land allocated by the Government for setting up a park by floating a trust, he said it has developed real estate business all over the country. He felt ordering a CBI investigation into the murky affairs would out the truth.

Kumar attacked the ISKCON authorities of lowering the prestige and honour of the country by seeking donations through its publicity campaign depicting India as a country suffering from hunger.  ``Pictures and visual images of hungry and poor children are depicted shamelessly,’’ he said pointing out that it amounted to ``seeking alms with a begging bowl.’’

When the world has acknowledged India’s growing status as an economic super power and one of the fastest growing economies in the entire world, Kumar said ISKCON’s campaign of mobilizing donations in advanced countries by publishing pictures of poor and hungry children was shameful.

Pointing out that the Union government as well as state government was sanctioning funds to the Akshaya Patra mid-day meal programme, which is also receiving generous donations from Corporate houses as also from overseas donors, he wondered whether the government had given permission to ISKCON to raise money by parading poor school children.

The chief minister B S Yeddyurappa, who patiently heard the entire expose by Shivakumar, nudged his cabinet colleague Suresh Kumar to announce the government’s willingness to order an inquiry by a house committee by the state legislative assembly if the speaker concurred with it. Soon after the minister’s announcement, the speaker said he had no objection to constituting the house panel and indicated that the composition and terms of reference would be announced shortly.

It may be recalled that ISKCON Bangalore and Mumbai have been at loggerheads with each other and the former is reportedly taking the stand that it was an independent entity. The dispute had even reached the Karnataka high court and recently one of the judges in the division bench, which is hearing the case, had alleged that he received a letter imputing motives on his partiality for being a frequent visitor to ISKCON Bangalore temple and receipient of gifts.