Published May 16, 2025 | 1:25 PM ⚊ Updated May 16, 2025 | 1:25 PM
Woman volunteer washing the feet of Miss World contestant. (Screengrab)
Synopsis: The Telangana government faced backlash after a volunteer washed a Miss World 2025 contestant’s feet during a cultural visit to historic temples. Critics called it a display of casteism and colonial hangover. Opposition parties demanded action, while Minister Sitakka clarified it was an isolated act by an overzealous volunteer, not government-directed. The incident overshadowed the event’s cultural intent.
The visit of Miss World 2025 contestants to the Thousand Pillar and Ramappa temples in Telangana, intended as a cultural showcase, has sparked controversy due to the organisers’ handling of the event.
As part of the Miss World pageant activities in Hyderabad, the contestants have been touring significant sites in Telangana. The state government arranged these visits to promote Telangana’s rich culture, heritage, and historical significance globally, hoping the contestants would share positive impressions of the state’s hospitality and historical relics on returning home.
As part of the same, during their visit to the temples in the erstwhile Warangal district on Wednesday, 14 May, the contestants were warmly welcomed in a manner reflecting Telangana’s traditions. The contestants wore sarees, applied vermilion and turmeric, styled their hair appropriate to Telangana culture, and greeted hosts with traditional namaskars as they entered the temple premises.
However, a subsequent ritual involving an elaborate foot-washing ceremony became the focal point of criticism.
While Women and Child Development Minister Sitakka (Danasari Anasuya) clarified that the incident involved a single overzealous volunteer who washed one contestant’s feet, that it was not a government-orchestrated act, the opposition criticised the act to be undermining the self respect of Telangana women.
The contestants were seated in rows for a visually striking setup, where women volunteers assisted them in washing their feet with water from small containers and provided towels to dry them. Social media visuals captured the contestants smiling as they participated.
Controversy arose when one volunteer was seen taking a towel from a contestant and wiping her feet, an act perceived by some as excessive and reminiscent of outdated caste-based servitude.
Critics argued that the scene evoked Telangana’s feudal past, where lower-caste individuals served landlords with deference, sometimes touching their feet in submission. Though such practices are largely extinct, the imagery stirred memories of historical caste dynamics and colonial-era servility toward foreigners.
The foot-washing ritual, which could have been omitted, became central to the event, overshadowing its cultural intent.
Opposition parties seized the opportunity to criticize the Revanth Reddy-led government. BRS women leaders, including former MLA Gongidi Sunitha, lodged a complaint with the Women’s Commission, calling the foot-washing “demeaning” and “humiliating.”
They described it as a reflection of “deep-rooted misogyny, casteism, and colonial hangover” and urged the commission to issue guidelines banning such practices in the name of culture.
They also demanded legal action against the event organizers, officials, and temple authorities, arguing that the incident violated the dignity of Indian women and perpetuated a hierarchy glorifying foreign privilege.
BJP state president and Union Minister G Kishan Reddy also condemned the government, demanding an apology from Congress leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi for what he called a “blasphemous” act that undermined the dignity and self-respect of Telangana’s women.
In a statement on Thursday, 15 May, he accused Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy of compromising Indian women’s dignity to impress his party’s leadership, asserting that treating guests as gods (Atithi Devo Bhava) should not involve lowering self-respect.
Minister Sitakka, clarifying the incident, asserted that no government staff or volunteers was instructed to wash the contestants’ feet, and if that were the intent, all 33 contestants would have been included.
Sitakka accused the BRS of hypocrisy, citing their own history of deference during Ivanka Trump’s Hyderabad visit, and urged them not to exaggerate the issue.
She said that the reason why the contestants were made to sit in rows and place their feet in plates was to prevent flooding of the temple premises if they were asked to wash their feet at the entrance of the temple and they were 33 in number.
(Edited by Sumavarsha)
