More Open Letters Pour in Tirupati Prasadam Blasphemy

To,

1. Hon’ble CM Andhra Pradesh,

Shri Chandrababu Naidu Garu,

4th Block, First Floor, A.P. Secretariat,

Velagapudi, Andhra Pradesh.

2. Hon’ble Union Minister of Home Affairs,

Shri Amit Anilchandra Shah,

North Block, New Delhi

It is with immense pain and heartbreak that I write this letter to you. With the news of beef and tallow oil as well as fish oil being used for the preparation of the Prasadam at Tirupati Temple, any Hindu who had any faith in the secular institutions of the country in managing our temples is completely shaken to the core and disillusioned. What adds insult to this injury is not only the fact that beef fat was used, the consumption of which is completely banned in Hinduism and is considered one of the biggest blasphemies, but also that this Prasadam was offered to Prabhu Shri Ram at his prān-pratiṣthā in Ayodhya other than the Tirupati Balaji and the devotees of the temple.

In light of this news, we hope that the government (even yours, that had no involvement in this blasphemy) will be amenable to the few suggestions that all Hindu intellectuals are providing:

1. 1. Where the application of Hindu logic is not appreciated in secular places, the application of secular logic and governance shall not be tolerated in religious areas. The government, any government, as a secular institution, has no right to not only control and siphon money out of religious institutions for road and mall projects that lie beyond the objects of a temple, but also to control the religious institutions of just one religious denomination, especially when it has been proven time and time again that it has only exposed the religious institution to corruption and blasphemy. It is time that the governments give up their petty excuses for the micromanagement and direct control of temples in India and make them independent trusts.
   2. The appointment of Non-Hindus to boards of Hindu temples is simply not acceptable anymore. This has time and again proven to not be a measure of ‘multiculturalism’ or ‘secularism’ but an avenue for blasphemy. In the wake of massive opposition to the appointment of Non-Muslims to a body as administrative as the Waqf Land Management Boards and Committees, why must Hindus tolerate Non-Hindus like Farid Hakim and Vangalapudi Anitha on boards of eminent temples like the Tirupati, or any at all for that matter. Where the restrictions that apply to a specific community are not necessarily observed by another, the former cannot be in control of the places of worship of the latter.
   3. This goes without saying  that post the discovery of these non-vegetarian and beef elements, crores of Hindus feel like they have been deliberately led away from their way of life, and that they have broken their dharma itself. In the wake of the blasphemy and the large sphere of people it affects, we ask that the strictest measures be taken against the perpetrators from the top rung of the ladder to the lowest one and that investigation committees with the power to issue summons, investigate the matter and come to a conclusion, are formed for the same. If something as grave as this is overlooked and answered only cursorily, there is no coming back from what blasphemies Hindus will be unwillingly subjected to in the future, and none from the reactions that Hindus may then be tempted to undertake to save their faith.

We come from the land of Mangal Pandey, where the mere rumour of the presence of beef oil in British-made bullets caused the first mutiny and war of independence in 1857; where cows are revered as mothers just like our own mothers are and our motherland is; where even after the government sanctioned massacre of brahmins and cows in an anti-cow-slaughter agitation in 1966, the agitations against cow-slaughter went on. If this becomes an issue that needs to be fought for like the Ram Janmabhoomi Movement, I am afraid that for the protection of Dharma, Hindus must again rise up to the occasion.

‘धर्मो एव हतो हन्ति धर्मो रक्षति रक्षितः’

(He who attempts to destroy Dharma is destroyed by Dharma itself and he who protects it is, in turn, protected by it.)

This contamination is a part of an ongoing, old process of desecrating the Hindu faith itself by not only attempting to reduce devotee numbers by the usage of such tactics but also to forever desecrate the temple and its sanctity itself (like the attempts at slaughtering cows and bringing beef in temples at riots like Moplah in the past).

In the end, it becomes apparent that the criticism that extends to the YRSCP for what it has done extends to all governments for their unwillingness to give up control of our temples. This control itself must be called into question alongside the harsh and swift fall of the hammer of justice that we expect out of the governments that we voted for for not just economic development, but also, and more importantly, for the protection of our dharma.

‘We are the last remaining descendants of a people whose ways have not changed. Agni is still kept, Mantras are still recited, Gods are still worshipped, and Ancestors are still honoured.’ We would do well to remember that and to protect our cultural lineage at all costs. At the end, we humans must all go to face our maker beyond human understanding.