India: False Idols - The trouble with temple deities acting as landlords By Meera Nanda | 1 September 2018

[. . .]
Idols are to modern Hinduism what corporations are to the world of business.. In a hyper-capitalist country like the United States, business corporations have been granted the rights of free speech and freedom of religion, which used to be reserved only for citizens. In a hyper-religious country such as India, temple idols have been granted the right to own and litigate property, a right normally reserved for citizens. Yet what may be forgotten in all this is that it is human and other sentient beings that are entitled to enjoy rights that stem from living in a society. [ . . . ]

http://www.caravanmagazine.in/essay/trouble-temple-deities-landlords-ayodhya