New Delhi: Comments made by the former Supreme Court judge Indu Malhotra have caused controversy after she claimed in a video that communist governments “all over” have taken over Hindu temples for revenue.In an undated video that appears to have been shot outside the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple in Kerala’s capital Thiruvananthapuram, Malhotra can be heard saying, “…. That is what happens with these communist governments. They want to just take over because of the revenue. Their problem is the revenue. All over they have taken over. All over. Only Hindu temples. So Justice Lalit and I said, no, we will not allow it (sic).”Communist Governments all over are overtaking Hindu Temples: Justice (R) Indu Malhotra sparks row with comment #indumalhotra #temples #hindutemple pic.twitter.com/YnraleVNiX— News18 (@CNNnews18) August 29, 2022Her comments are an apparent allusion to the Supreme Court’s verdict in July 2020 which upheld the rights of the Travancore royal family to manage and maintain the historic Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple. That bench consisted of Justice Malhotra and Justice U.U. Lalit, who became the Chief Justice of India on August 27.The top court overturned a Kerala high court order which held that the “ruler” of Travancore, who was trusted to manage the Padmanabhaswamy temple, referred only to Sree Chithira Thirunal Balarama Varma, the last king of Travancore. The Kerala HC said that with Varma’s death in 1991, the state should be considered the “ruler” of Travancore and should constitute a committee to take over control of the temple.In their order, Justices Malhotra and Lalit held that Varma’s death would not in any way affect the Shebaitship (a person who serves a deity) of the temple held by the Travancore royal family. The order also mandated the constitution of a five-member administrative committee to manage and administer the temple. The administrative committee comprised the district judge of Thiruvananthapuram, a nominee of the Maharajah of the royal family, a nominee of the Kerala government, a member nominated by the Ministry of Culture, Government of India and the chief thantri (priest) of the temple.According to The Hindu, Justice Malhotra is on a visit to Kerala to attend various events, including a medical convention organised in connection with the platinum jubilee celebrations of the Thiruvananthapuram Medical College Hospital on Sunday.Reacting to the comments, CPI(M) leader Thomas Isaac – who was the finance minister of Kerala when the SC verdict was pronounced – accused the former judge of being “deeply prejudiced against communists”. He added that Justice Malhotra was “ignorant of public finance of Kerala government” and that not a “paise of temple revenues enter budget receipts”.Justice Indu Malhotra is ignorant of public finance of Kerala government,and worse,deeply prejudiced against communists. Not a paise of temple revenues enter budget receipts, while hundreds of crores are spent for facilities for devotees and to support temple administration.— Thomas Isaac (@drthomasisaac) August 29, 2022Justice Malhotra was part of the five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court which allowed women of menstruating age to enter the Sabarimala temple. She was the lone dissenter and in her minority judgment, said, “Notions of rationality cannot be brought into matters of religion.” She added that issues of “deep religious sentiments should not be ordinarily be interfered by the court”.