Rrecent statement of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has created a sensation. He reportedly said that during the rule of former Jaganmohan Reddy, ghee containing pig and beef fat and fish oil was used in the laddu prasadam of Tirupati Balaji Temple. It is noteworthy that the world fame Tirupati Balaji Temple is managed by a State Government body called Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam i.e. TTD. The TTD Executive Officer J Shyamala Rao said that after the formation of the new Government, as the new Executive Officer of TTD, he had ordered to check the quality of ghee used in the prasad. Of the five suppliers of ghee, samples of AR Dairy were found to have gross irregularities. The purity of ghee is measured in S value and its prescribed standard should be between 95.68 to 104.32, but the S value of AR Dairy’s sample was found to be only 19.72.
Dubious Role of Father-Son Duo
Seeing such a low level of the sample, the possibility of a mixture of fat i.e. beef tallow, pig fat and fish oil in its ghee was expressed. The allegation of animal fat in ghee is extremely serious and has grievously attacked Hindu sentiments globally. It should be noted that in the past, the conversion mafia has presented the fear of religious corruption in front of Hindus by feeding them beef by deceit and in such a situation, conversion is the only solution. The previous record of Jagan and his father Y Samuel Rajashekhar Reddy, who was the 14th Chief Minister of the State, has been controversial. The father-son duo of Christian origin appointed two such people as the Chief Executive Officers of TTD, who were accused of being Christians. Although both these officials Karunakar Reddy Bhumana and YV Subba Reddy denied these allegations, the video of Bhumana’s daughter’s Christian wedding was made public. Karunakar Reddy, who comes from a Naxalite background, has also made a statement in which he has called the idol of Bhagwan Venkateswara a black stone and talked about beating it with a slipper. The father and son made a person who gave such hateful statements like Periyar, the Chairman of TTD twice. Questions are also raised on the intentions of the Reddy father-son duo because they want to keep their close relatives on the post of TTD Chairman. Both Bhumana and YV Reddy are close relatives of Jagan. The seven hills of Tirumala in Tirupati are considered to be the abode of Bhagwan Venkateswara on earth. It is forbidden to build a place of worship of any other religion here, but both during the tenure of Rajashekar Reddy and Karunakar Reddy, efforts were made to limit the holy area to only two hills. During the same period, many churches and a big mosque came into existence in Tirupati and many non-Hindus also got jobs in TTD. There have been reports of smuggling of idols from temples, stealing jewellery and usurping temple land. The propagation of Christianity has been promoted right in front of the Tirupati temple. The use of offerings made with devotion to temples for non-religious purposes has become a means of Government looting of donations. For example, in 2002, the Karnataka HRCE Department received Rs 72 crore from various temples, but returned only Rs 10 crore to the temples for maintenance.
After the recent misdeed in Tirupati, it has come to light that the temple, which receives offerings worth about Rs 1,200 crore annually, does not even have a small laboratory to check the quality of the prasad material. Considering the way Hindu sentiments were trampled in this case, the culprits should be given such a punishment that it becomes an example. Along with this, Hindu temples should also be freed from Government control. For this, it is also necessary that the Hindu society itself presents a comprehensive and strong blueprint of temple management and administration to the Government. If such a serious matter is resolved, then the Government should take strict action against the temple. An attempt was also made to dilute the sanctity of a major pilgrimage of Hindu faith by promoting entertainment places like amusement parks in Tirupati. These were some of the examples of different ways of attacking Hindu faith in the world’s richest and most revered temple. Reports of gross mismanagement of financial resources, increasing corruption and disregarding temple maintenance leads to the loss and destruction of temple antiquities. The supremacy of the Constitution is repeatedly invoked, but unfortunately, various ‘secular’ governments are controlling the ‘sacred’ temples, which are the centres of Hindu faith, and committing the most despicable fraud with the sentiments of Hindus under the guise of the Constitution. The governments that are formed to protect the Constitution are themselves tearing apart its spirit.
By taking over temples for their vested interests, they are openly violating Articles 12, 25 and 26 of the Constitution of Bharat whereas the honourable judiciary has clarified in many cases that governments should stay away from the management of temples and their property. It is unfortunate that even after 77 years of Independence, Hindus are not being allowed to manage their own temples. Minorities have special provision under Article 30 of the Constitution and are allowed to run their religious institutions, without any Govt intervention, but Hindus are refrained from doing so. The world knows that the Muslim invaders looted and destroyed temples. The British cleverly established control over them and started the process of nonstop looting and discretion of them, being continued by the present governments too.
Restore Sanctity of Temple
Despite many High Courts and the Supreme Court judgements that it is not the job of a secular Govt to control or manage a place of faith, around four lakh temples have been captured by different Govts. Many big temples are shown to be in such a loss despite huge offerings that even proper arrangements for their worship material cannot be made. Iftar parties can be given in many temples of Kerala but a huge fee has to be paid for the religious programmes of Hindus. Due to the irregularities being done in Tirupati Balaji and other Hindu places of worship, the belief of the Hindu society has become stronger that without freeing their temples from Government control, their sanctity cannot be restored. It is an established belief that the property and income of Hindu temples should be used only for the development of temples and Dharmic works of Hindus. Temples should be freed from their illegal and immoral possession and should be handed over to Hindu saints and devotees under a certain system. The format of this system has already been determined by the revered saints after many years of contemplation and discussion which is being successfully used at several places. Now demand is being made from every section of the society that the temples be ‘socialised’, not ‘Governmentalised’. One should also bear in mind that the beef-filled cartridges were the cause of 1857 revolution. Here the beef and pig fat in the sacred prasad will liberate the temples. The ‘secular’ Governments must vacate the ‘sacred’ places.
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