Tirumala balaji temple row turns political
Sacked head priest A.V. Ramana Deekshitulu had accused the temple authorities of conducting secret excavations inside the temple premises.
The sacking of the head priest of the world’s richest Hindu temple, the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam in Tirupati, is snowballing into a major political issue that might impact the electoral prospects of the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh.
The continuing row over the disappearance of invaluable jewellery and gold ornaments can mar the image of the TDP government. The Opposition YSR Congress and BJP have cornered the TDP with corruption charges. The sacked head priest, Dr A.V. Ramana Deekshitulu kicked off a storm of sorts by accusing the TTD and the state government of a range of issues— from violations in the conduct of daily rituals at the sanctum sanctorum to the upkeep of the inner precincts of the temple and the disappearance of invaluable gold and jewellery belonging to Lord Balaji. On 15 May, he made three crucial allegations against the temple authorities— that they had resorted to several violations in the “puja” rituals at the temple so as to suit VIP darshans, that they had conducted secret excavations inside the temple premises to find a 16th century treasure, and that they covered up the disappearance of valuable ornaments including an invaluable pink diamond donated to the Lord.
Dr Deekshitulu demanded a CBI probe into the disappearance of the rare 37.3 carat pink diamond from 2001 and its auctioning by Sotheby’s in Geneva in November 2017 for Rs 500 crore. The removed head priest of Balaji temple demanded a through probe into the disappearance of invaluable gold ornaments that were gifted to the temple over the years. The pink diamond was donated to the temple by Maharaja of Mysore in 1945.
A few days before he made these allegations in public, the priest briefed the same to BJP national president Amit Shah, who along with his family visited the temple on 10 May. Deekshitulu is reported to have taken Shah to “Potu” (kitchen area where laddus are prepared for the Lord) to show the marks of the excavations done last December.
According to the sacked priest, some officials of TTD, apparently acting on the orders of the higher ups, had conducted the digging of the Potu area, driven by the belief that there were hidden treasures 300 ft beneath. The excavations were carried out for about 20 days from 6 December 2017. As a result, laddus were prepared from boondi made at an alternative kitchen during the period.
Dr Deekshitulu termed this as a glaring violation of temple rituals as it amounted to “starving the God” for about three weeks. “I had suffered silently this major misdeed of the TTD as it was a gross sacrilege towards the Lord. When I asked TTD executive officer (EO) Anil Kumar Singhal about this, he simply feigned ignorance,” said Deekshitulu.
The TTD trust board, which met on 16 May, decided to sack him, invoking an earlier Government Order No. 611, dated 16 October 2012—according to that order priests who have attained 65 years of age have to retire. The board appointed four head priests replacing Deekshitulu without any notice.
“I am exploring all legal options to challenge my removal which is illegal and arbitrary,” said Dr Deekshitulu, while talking to The Sunday Guardian over phone from Tirupati on Friday. Sources close to him told this newspaper that noted lawyer and BJP MP Subramanian Swamy will file a petition in the Supreme Court in this regard soon.
Swamy, after meeting Deekshitulu in New Delhi earlier this week, had told the media that he would be fighting the case in his individual capacity to ensure justice to the sacked priest. Sources also said that another petition on behalf of the former head priest would be filed before the Supreme Court, seeking a CBI probe into omissions and commissions at the Balaji temple over the years.
The 18-member trust board, appointed on 21 April, has a TDP MP, Rayapati Sambasiva Rao, and four TDP MLAs— Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao, G.S.S. Shivaji and S. Venkata Veeraiah and a former TDP minister E. Peddi Reddy, be- sides a few persons from the ruling TDP.
The board also has Sudha Murthy, wife of Infosys founder Narayana Murthy; Potluri Ramesh Bau, industrialist and a relative of Supreme Court judge N.V. Ramana; and Swapna Mungantiwar, wife of a Maharashtra BJP minister.
The trust’s decision to force its employees to protest against the removed head priest by wearing black badges on Thursday sparked off another row. When dozens of TTD staff including some priests were seen wearing black ribbons on their shirts, the devotees objected to it and forced them to take off the ribbons.
Two YSR Congress MPs, Vijaya Sai Reddy and Midhun Reddy, demanded a CBI probe.
BJP MP G.V.L. Narasimha Rao too objected to the sacking of the head priest without any notice.
The ruling TDP termed the statements of BJP and YSR Congress leaders as part of their pre-planned strategy to take over the Tirumala temple from the purview of the state government.
TDP MLA and TTD trust board member Bonda Uma Maheswara Rao told this newspaper that there were no irregularities or misdeeds on part of the authorities. Rao argued that there was no mention of a pink diamond in the registry of the temple and only a ruby that was decorated on the idols of the Lord was broken in a procession in 2001 after some coins thrown by devotees hit it.
But the controversy is unlikely to die down anytime soon.
The non-disclosure of a report made by Justice M. Jagannatha Rao, who had probed charges of missing gold and jewellery of Tirumala in 2011, and another report of Ramana Kumar, an IPS officer and TTD chief vigilance officer, over some missing diamonds and precious rubies, is going to prolong the controversy. An online petition seeking a probe into the Tirumala temple affairs and reinstatement of the sacked head priest is gaining momentum on social media, with 5,000 peopled having signed it so far. The Central government—in particular the Home Ministry and the Defence Ministry—is taking regular feedbacks from the agencies on the ground situation in Kashmir to explore the possibility of extending the Ramzan ceasefire beyond Eid, likely to take place around 15 June.
As per reports, the government is happy that the ceasefire has led to the suspension of violent protests across the Kashmir valley, especially in South Kashmir.
Army Chief Bipin Rawat visited Kashmir after the ceasefire and was briefed by the commanders on the ground regarding the prevailing situation. As the annual Amarnath yatra is scheduled to start from 28 June, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti has advocated the extension of the ceasefire until the pilgrimage is over.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh held a review meeting regarding the ceasefire and expressed his satisfaction over the relative calm that has been witnessed in the valley and the drop in stone-pelting incidents. On the ground, there is a general improvement in the law and order situation and state DGP S.P. Vaid recently tweeted that the situation has eased.
Centre’s interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma, who has been working very hard to make the ceasefire comprehensive and result oriented, came to Srinagar after the ceasefire and held discussions with the police and the officials. Reports said that during his meeting with the Chief Minsiter and Governor N.N. Vohra, Sharma expressed hope that after Eid, if peace continues, the Centre may extend the ceasefire. Sharma has also been in touch with the separatists in order to ensure their participation in the dialogue process.
Senior Hurriyat leader Abdul Gani Bhat said in Handwara on Monday that there would be a dialogue between New Delhi and the separatists soon. He said that Hurriyat was for talks and for the resolution of the Kashmir dispute through dialogue. Reports in Srinagar said that Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti was also trying to establish her own channels of communication with the separatists and also with opposition National Conference to ensure that the ceasefire initiative reaches the next level.
Reports said that she was in touch with NC patron Farooq Abdullah and it was courtesy the consultations held between the two leaders that the former J&K CM asked the separatists and the mainstream political parties to join hands to rescue the people of Kashmir from their misery. Much to the surprise of the media, Farooq Abdullah was present on stage when Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Srinagar recently for the inauguration of different development projects in J&K.