When Jagan Mohan Reddy was the chief minister, no one had the guts to ask him to fill the declaration form but it is unclear whether the NDA government would allow him without signing the faith declaration form.
Published Sep 26, 2024 | 3:36 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 26, 2024 | 3:45 PM
YS Jagan Mohan Reddy (Supplied)
For years, as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Jagan Mohan Reddy visited Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams, made offerings of silk, jewellery etc, prayed with folded hands and participated in religious rituals. Not once did he have to worry about declaring his religion but things have now changed.
Now, tension is building up as the YSRCP supremo prepares to visit the Tirumala shrine on 28 September in an act of penance, after Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu “used” Lord Venkateswara’s Laddu prasadam for political benefit.
The YSRCP chief also gave a call to party leaders and workers to perform poojas in all temples across the state on that day.
Even though TDP does not want Jagan Mohan Reddy to visit the temple on 28 September, there is no way it can prevent him. At the most, the yellow party could create obstacles for him, and by doing so, might try to derive political mileage.
This time, the BJP has come forward to create impediments to Jagan Mohan Reddy. Even though TDP is yet to react to the YSRCP chief’s visit to Tirumala, BJP state president and MP Daggubati Purandeswari appeared to be doing the bidding for her brother-in-law Naidu.
In a message on X, the BJP leader said that if Jagan Mohan Reddy decided to visit the temple, he had to declare his religion at Alipiri which is the entrance to the Tirumala shrine.
The visit follows Naidu’s accusation that the previous YSRCP government allowed ghee with contents of lard (pork fat) and tallow (beef fat) and fish oil in making of laddus, probably not knowing that he was riding a tiger and getting off would become difficult later.
Naidu made the allegations while speaking at the NDA meeting organised on the occasion of his 100 days in office. The TDP and the other two constituents of the NDA — Jana Sena and BJP — were quick in going for Jagan Mohan Reddy’s jugular.
They have been working overtime to restore sanctity to the shrine which is being interpreted by the YSRCP as Naidu’s attempt to kill Jagan Mohan Reddy politically for the “acts of sacrilege” that were purported to have occurred during the latter’s tenure as the chief minister.
With Jagan Mohan Reddy announcing his plan to visit the temple, the NDA’s aim seems to be to project him as a non-Hindu and thus portray his visit as yet another attempt to commit an act of sacrilege at the temple.
The TDP has been accusing the previous YSRCP government of systematically sullying the sanctity of the temple over the last five years and the acme of its actions was allowing adulterated ghee in the making of Tirumala laddu.
In her message on X, she said: “We are given to understand that Jagan Mohan Reddy intends to visit Tirumala on the 28th of this month. The practice of declaring one’s faith has been in vogue for decades in Tirumala. As per G.O. MS NO- 311 of AP Revenue Endowments-1, Rule no 16, Non-Hindus must give a declaration at the Vaikuntam queue complex before darshan in the “faith form.” This is also as per TTD general regulations Rule 136. The BJP demands that even before Jagan Mohan Reddy begins mounting Tirumala, he should give the declaration of his faith at the Garuda statue itself at Alipiri.”
We are given to understand that Jagan Mohan Reddy intends to visit Tirumala on the 28th of this month. The practice of declaring one’s faith has been in vogue for decades in Tirumala. As per G.O. MS NO- 311 of AP Revenue Endowments–1, Rule no 16, Non Hindus must give a… pic.twitter.com/MKwafeXsDe
— Daggubati Purandeswari 🇮🇳 (@PurandeswariBJP) September 25, 2024
Even as a slugfest is going on whether or not Tirumala laddus were made with adulterated ghee with animal fat in it, it appeared to have become a political powder keg. While Jagan Mohan Reddy vowed that no adulteration took place in the making of laddus when he was the chief minister, TDP had said it was done alright.
In the din of the over-heated debate over the sanctity of the Tirumala laddu, the basic question of whether the adulterated ghee was used in the making of laddus, got lost. The debate centred around whether the ghee meant for laddus was adulterated and not about using it for making laddus.
The TDP went by the surmise that since the lab reports suggested that ghee supplied by some companies had animal fat adulterants, it might have been used in the past when Jagan Mohan Reddy was the chief minister.
The grey area in this assumption is that the lab reports of the ghee were done much after Naidu became the chief minister — which was pointed out by Jagan Mohan Reddy.
He asked whether it should be assumed that the laddus were made with adulterated ghee since 12 June when Naidu became the chief minister and if so why no action was taken.
Jagan Mohan Reddy did not make any allegation that the laddus were adulterated during Naidu’s time but accused the latter was trying to use the alleged adulteration of the laddus for political benefits. Jagan Mohan Reddy said Naidu’s action was indicative of debased politics.
The YSRCP chief dashed off letters to the prime minister and Union home minister seeking inquiry into whether the allegations of adulteration of laddus had occurred or not even as Naidu constituted a SIT to ferret out the truth on how adulteration of ghee took place besides inquiring into allegations of irregularities in the administration of the temple during Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure.
Now, the question for which everyone is eagerly waiting for an answer is whether Jagan Mohan Reddy will declare his religion at Alipiri when he visits the temple. In the past, when he was the chief minister, he never gave a declaration of his faith and yet used to visit the temple on auspicious days.
Even when he had to present silk robes to the Lord at the time of Brahmotsavams, he used to go alone though the rules lay down that one who is doing the job should have his wife alongside.
It is quite possible that Jagan Mohan Reddy’s wife may not have had faith in the rituals at the temple or in Lord Venkateswara, which no one questions, but Jagan Mohan Reddy in deference to the traditions, should have deputed anyone of his ministers to do it.
When Jagan Mohan Reddy was the chief minister, no one had the guts to ask him to fill the declaration form but it is unclear whether the NDA government would allow him without signing the faith declaration form.
When this issue cropped in debates during his terre, the then TTD chairman YV Subba Reddy used to go to his master’s support, saying that there was no need to declare one’s religion. On one such occasion, he had said that people could visit the temple and pray to God regardless of religion and that there was no need to declare religion.
But the GO issued, in 1990, mandates that one should declare the religion before entering the temple and it is still in force. It is now an open question whether Jagan Mohan Reddy would declare his religion or not, and if he doesn’t, whether the TTD would stop him in his tracks and turn him away from visiting the temple.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
