The Indians - being a minority race in the country - must change their mindset to progress. The Indian diaspora in many developed countries are more successful than many Indians in this country. It’s their constructive mindset that has made them progress in these countries.

I have lived in the US and also in England and have seen how hardworking the Indians are there. They put a high premium on education and are gainfully employed. Many are also in the business sector. Their per capita income is almost as high as those who have lived in these countries very much earlier than them. They do not squabble over places of worship or where to build the next shrine.

With progressive education, the Indians there are able to act more rationally when it comes to the matter of religion. Essentially, they do not encounter many problems in seeking places to build their temples in these countries. However, the process has to be strictly done in an official manner. They are not allowed to build places of worship anywhere they wish.

We don’t see places of worship built in an extemporised manner along the road side, in the forests or under trees and on private land. The worshipers there know that this is an offence and they are prepared to toe the line and adhere to the rules and regulations. They are progressively educated to think along this line.

They insist on a sort of system or order in a society. The people are made to value orderly systems that are universally acceptable. This is the actual scenario in the developed world.

Unfortunately, in our society, this issue of places of worship has gone out of hand when it involves some innocent worshippers. These are the worshippers who lack guidance and are exploited by politicians and some self-seeking community leaders.

These worshippers are not being engaged and educated on the importance of rules and laws in society. As we cannot simply build a house without proper planning and consent from the authorities, the same should apply to places of worship.

There are old temples, churches and mosques on government land which were later gazetted as historical sites. But a string of places for worship for a single, small community along roads and some secluded places may not be viable for the government to condone.

If this is allowed to go on, it would become a systemic issue which later on would be hard to control. In the first place, does a small community need so many places of worship to express their faith?

As for the Hindu temples, Indian leaders – and also leaders of other political parties -should not politicise the matter. Instead of politicising it, the Indian leaders in particular should go to the ground and educate the Indians that they should not keep on building places of worship wherever they want. They have to learn to respect the rules and the procedures.

The same goes with all places of worship in the country. On the government’s part, instead of politicising the whole issue, it should - after engagement with this community of worshipers - provide land for the purpose of building temples if it is deemed appropriate.

The worshippers, on the other hand, should be more level-headed and should not expect the government to build or provide land for this purpose in every nook and corner of the country. It has to be treated on case-by-case basis and entertained only if there is a genuine necessity.

I have personally seen an Indian community of less than 50 families living on the same road of about three kilometres having five small temples. This does not include 12 shrines which are built further inside to accommodate the same worshippers. Why must such a small community be at odds within themselves when it comes to worshipping God?

I am not against these worshippers but my point here is that they should not go on a temple or shrine-building spree to prove a point to others within their community as an act of rebelliousness. This is not genuine God-worshipping but more of rivalry within a community.

What is important here is that the educated Indians should go to the ground and educate the community and make them realise the pragmatic aspect of religion and worshipping. Tell them to avoid building temples and shrines wherever they feel like, as it is an offence to do so.

The authority should stop the process – nipping it in the bud - before the structures are up and ready. Nipping this illegal act early would cool off tempers instead of waiting for the structures to be completed and then demolishing them.

Some politicians at times act like small children. Their die-hard habit is to use religion and race to become popular. Many of them have nothing else to boast of other than to play on the people’s sentiment and get political mileage out of it.

Instead of seeking amicable solutions to this thorny issue, they go all out to exploit it for their own advantage. The media, alas, will help them sensationalise the issue. They will then feel much elated when there is chaos involving religion and places of worship, as they can then come out from hibernation to show to the people that they are the ‘defender’ of that particular race or religion.

This is cheap politics and indeed it is a common trait among some politicians in Third World countries. We dread having politicians with such deceitful mindsets of this nature as these are the people who are capable of disrupting society at the expense of innocent worshipers.

Instead of enlightening the community to be more sensible and to have more deference for law and order in society, they exploit the people’s sentiments to become cheap political heroes.