Temples need to be freed of State control

India's Constitution originally did not contain the word 'secular'; Articles 25 and 26 guaranteed religious freedom and denominational self-management.

The 42nd Amendment during Emergency inserted 'secular' to name an existing philosophy, not to authorize state management of religious institutions.

Chola inscriptions show temples were historically civic institutions with elected committees and self-governance, not state-administered.

Temple bureaucratization began with the East India Company's Regulation VII of 1817, and independent India retained this colonial architecture.

Hindu Religious and Charitable Endowments laws permit executive management of temples, unlike for mosques or churches, contradicting the Shirur Mutt judgment that administration rests with denominations.