The Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) on Friday (September 20, 2024) expressed anger over the reports of adulteration of animal fat in the laddu prasad distributed at Tirupati temple and reiterated its position that Hindu temples and places of worship should be handed over to society rather than be controlled by governments.
The VHP’s stand came after Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Pawan Kalyan, called for the constitution of ‘Sanatana Dharma Rakshana Board’ to manage the affairs in temples, countrywide.
“We are all deeply disturbed with the findings of animal fat [fish oil, pork fat and beef fat] mixed in Tirupati Balaji prasad......May be the time has come to constitute a ‘Sanatana Dharma Rakshana Board’ at a national level to look into all the issues related to temples in entire Bharath.,” he said.
Commenting on the statement of Mr. Kalyan, head of Jan Sena Party, an ally of the NDA government, VHP spokesperson Vinod Bansal said the organisation had always been against the boards which govern temples and mostly headed either by governments or non-believers.
“Why should non-believers have control over the places of religious importance of Hindus. In entire world, only temples are controlled by governments and no other place of worship of any other religion,” said Mr. Bansal.
He said the Tirupati temple row had once again underlined the fact that the control of temples must be given to the society to safeguard the Hindu sentiments which was deeply hurt after the reports of animal fat adulteration found in the most pious thing, prasadm.
Also Read: The case against state control of Hindu temples
VHP’s International General Secretary Bajrang Lal Bagra too demanded an impartial probe into the adulteration at the Tirupati temple, which, he said, was the most respected and visited temple by Hindus across the world.
“This type of tempering with the sentiments of Hindus has been done deliberately and such disgusting act must stop. Hindu society will no longer tolerate this type of repeated attacks on their belief,” he said.
Mr. Bagra also stressed on the demands that the control of the temples should be left for the society to handle and manage as the entry of government made everything political.
“This Tirupati incident further strengthens the belief of VHP that government control over temples leads to the entry of politics. Due to the appointment of non-Hindu officers there, such impurities are deliberately added to the prasad,” Mr. Lal Bagra added.
He asserted that there were many other issues under this in which the property of temples was being misused and encroached upon. They were sold and also used for non-Hindu purposes.
BJP MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao backed Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and said he had made the revelation about the adulteration in the prasadam of Tirupati temple on the basis of test reports.
“This is not an issue of accusation but has been revealed from a test report...The faith of all the devotees has been hurt. We want action taken against those responsible for this,” Mr. Rao added
Published - September 20, 2024 09:06 pm IST
