Hyderabad: With the Tirupati temple board, which oversees Andhra Pradesh’s famed Lord Venkateshwara temple, now under the aegis of the Chandrababu Naidu-led NDA government, the spotlight is back on the employment of non-Hindus in the organisation which also manages other shrines, hospitals, schools, and colleges including Delhi’s Sri Venkateswara College.
After the first meeting of the newly reconstituted Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) board was held at Tirumala Monday, its new chairman B.R. Naidu announced that the temple trust has approved a resolution in favour of allowing all non-Hindu employees to either take voluntary retirement or be absorbed into the workforce in the Tirupati municipality or other suitable state government departments.
The employment of non-Hindus has been a raging issue at the TTD, a Hindu pilgrimage centre, and Andhra Pradesh at large, with some non-Hindu staff allegedly working at other state temples too. The TTD’s resolution comes months after Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s sensational claim of ghee contaminated with animal fat being used to make Tirupati laddus—which was backed by the temple board—sparked a massive row with his predecessor Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The temple board’s move also comes in the wake of an “unapologetic Sanatani Hindu” stand, targeting “pseudo-secularists”, taken by NDA alliance partner and CM Chandrababu Naidu’s deputy Pawan Kalyan at Tirupati last month.
Kalyan—who went on an 11-day penance in September over the laddu controversy—had unveiled the ‘Varahi Declaration’ at a rally on 3 October at the temple town. It demands a strong national act to protect Sanatana Dharma, a “Sanatana Dharma Protection Board”, and non-cooperation with individuals and organisations defaming or spreading hatred against Sanatana Dharma.
On Monday, while the TTD chairman said the board has a list of all non-Hindu employees, he refused to reveal the number. However, Bhanu Prakash Reddy, one of the TTD board members, told ThePrint that the figure could be over a thousand, including contractual staff.
Reports said there might be a few hundred non-Hindu employees, while a TTD official, who did not wish to be named, said there are around a hundred or fewer.
In total, the TTD has around 6,600 permanent and 14,000 contract and outsourced staff, according to temple officials.
Bhanu Prakash Reddy, who accompanied B.R. Naidu at the press conference, told ThePrint, “Though few attempts were made towards removal of such employees in the past they were met with resistance, court cases or regimes of the day not moving ahead resolutely.”
The opposition YSRCP has so far not reacted on the TTD resolution. When asked for a comment, YSRCP general secretary Satish Reddy said he needed to discuss the matter with the party leadership first.
A previous bid stopped under Jagan govt
In August 2019, during the first term of former chief minister Jagan, chief secretary L. V. Subrahmanyam, who served as TTD executive officer from 2011-13, took up the matter of non-Hindus working at the pilgrimage site. He reportedly said there was a need to carry out surprise inspections at the residences of employees suspected of practising different faiths. His removal from the post by Jagan, a practising Christian, soon after, was linked to these actions.
At the time, the senior IAS officer, now retired, had said, “Employees are free to convert/practice the religion of their liking. Opposition is only to their continuance with the those TTD jobs hurting the sentiments of Hindus.”
Around the same time, videos purportedly from 2017 surfaced on social media of a few senior TTD employees attending Sunday mass at churches downhill and even using TTD-provided official cars to get there.
After public outrage over hurt Hindu sentiments and protests by Hindu rights groups, show cause notices were issued to around 45 employees at various levels.
The staff, several of them who had been employed in non-religious services like sanitation, nursing, and gardening, for many years—some even decades—approached the AP High Court alleging discrimination. In February 2018, the court provided them relief from sacking, until further orders.
The TTD had cited the service rules framed under the Andhra Pradesh Charitable and Hindu Religious Institutions and Endowments Act, 1987, and the state endowment department orders issued in October 1989 to support employing Hindus only for TTD jobs.
A more clearly defined rule was also inserted into TTD’s service rules through an order in October 2007. “Notwithstanding anything contained in these rules or any other rules now in vogue, appointment to any of the posts in any category in any of the institutions administered or substantially funded by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams shall be made only from among the persons professing Hindu Religion,” it reads.
A plan to shift TTD’s non-Hindu employees to AP government departments was reportedly mooted in 2018, too.
But the identification of non-Hindu employees and their relocation to the government is fraught with practical difficulties, the head of a TTD wing told ThePrint on condition of anonymity. “TTD’s vigilance department should be given a free hand to red-handedly catch employees violating the rules, indulging in activities hurting Hindu religious sentiments. A thorough report should be submitted. The action should serve as a deterrent for job misapplication in future too.”
The senior functionary, a specialist in Hindu scriptures, added, “The TTD chairman’s announcement is welcome but should be implemented with firm will and conviction from political bosses too.”
Non-Hindu religious activities, especially evangelisation efforts, are also strictly prohibited in the hill town. Two women hawkers were removed from a pilgrimage spot at Tirumala and a case was registered Sunday after they started singing gospels.
Move in tandem with the stance of allies BJP, JSP
On Tuesday, state BJP chief D Purandeswari welcomed the TTD’s decision, saying that the BJP had earlier conducted a devotee/pilgrim signature movement on this issue stating that employees “lacking knowledge of Hindu Dharma and Hindu ritual traditions cannot do justice in serving the devotees or in performing their job required duties”.
తితిదే బోర్డు నుంచి, శ్రీవారి ఆలయంలో ఉద్యోగాల నుంచి హిందుయేతరులను తొలగించి, వారిని వేరే శాఖకు బదిలీ చేయడం గానీ, లేదా వారికి పూర్తి ప్రయోజనాలు కల్పిస్తూ, ఐచ్ఛిక పదవీ విరమణ కల్పించడం అనే శ్రీ బి ఆర్ నాయుడు గారి నిర్ణయాన్ని బిజెపి స్వాగతిస్తోంది. హిందూ ధర్మం, హిందూ ఆచార… pic.twitter.com/w1ctxane42
— Daggubati Purandeswari 🇮🇳 (@PurandeswariBJP) November 19, 2024
Since taking over in June from Jagan and forming a government in partnership with the BJP and JSP, CM Naidu too, observers say, has been displaying a pro-Hindu stand while being careful not to alienate other religious groups.
In public rallies in September, Naidu reportedly said the religious sentiments of millions were hurt by the knowledge of how the laddu prasadam offered to Lord Venkateshwara was made with inferior ingredients and adulterated ghee during Jagan’s YSRCP government.
Before that, in August, Naidu reportedly said that his government would ensure that Hindu temple affairs are managed and limited to Hindus only.
In June, a day after he took oath, Naidu said the cleansing of state administration corrupted by Jagan/YSRCP would begin from Tirupati-Tirumala affairs.
Push by TTD chairperson
A day after he was appointed TTD chairperson, B.R. Naidu—chairman of the popular TV5 group and a confidante of CM Naidu—said he would ensure Tirumala “remains a symbol of Hindu faith and sanctity”.
Accusing the previous YSRCP administration of mismanaging TTD and damaging Lord Venkateshwara temple’s reputation, B.R. Naidu said his priority would be to ensure that everyone working at Tirumala is a Hindu.
However, Bhanu Prakash Reddy said the resolution was put forward and approved because of his insistence. “People with Srinu (another name for Venkateswara) as their name on paper and Yesu (Jesus) in practice should be removed, based on a vigilance drive. We would press on for this,” he told ThePrint.
I.Y.R. Krishna Rao, a former AP chief secretary who also served as a TTD executive officer in the past, welcomed the TTD resolution as “a good decision, long overdue, coming now at the behest of BJP and JSP”.
He added: “How far and effectively the present TTD board and government acts on its statement has to be seen. But the strong stance against non-Hindu employees is apparently at the persistence of the TDP-led NDA alliance appeal, appeasement of Hindus.”
The proposal to relocate non-Hindus from TTD, Rao said, will have repercussions statewide as several employees are reportedly in services at many other state-managed temples like Srisailam, Srikalahasti, and Simhachalam.
Meanwhile, Telangana BJP chief and Union minister Kishan Reddy, who had visited Tirumala temple Wednesday, too welcomed the TTD initiative to relocate, reassign non-Hindu employees, suggesting that “a similar policy be implemented in temples across AP and Telangana, prohibiting non-Hindus from working in temple administration.
In a statement, NV Subhash, Telangana BJP spokesperson, said, “Unfortunately, the previous YSRCP government diluted Hindu sentiments and made TTD a laboratory for the propagation of other religions in the guise of so-called secularism.”
“Better late than never. Lord Venkateshwara abode, referred to as The Vatican of Hindus, is now being restored to its past glory,” he added.
(Edited by Sanya Mathur)
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