Yuck! I also ate prasadam. When Shruti returned from Ayodhya after covering the Ram Mandir’s Prana Pratishtha, she brought ‘prasadam’. Not only did I and everyone in the house eat it, but my wife also distributed it among the neighbours. And now Shankaracharya and the temple’s chief priest are saying that those laddus came from Tirupati Devasthan. Does this mean that I and all the Hindu gentlemen, saints and sages who went to Ayodhya for Prana Pratishtha ate prasadam made of ghee mixed with animal fat? And as the chief host, Modi offered the same to Ram Lalla? Or was the offering for them different and the original offering was not distributed to the devotees, but laddus brought from Tirupati were distributed under its guise?
Did the Prime Minister, in his role as the chief priest, or Champat Rai, Nripendra Mishra etc. of the Ram Mandir Trust get the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam ghee tested first and take any guarantee of its purity? Did the Ram Mandir Trust buy it by paying money or did it distribute the laddus made and offered in the Tirupati kitchen for free? What is the record? Did the Ram Mandir not have enough money to build a Ramji kitchen in Ayodhya, call artisans from Tirupati, get Ramji’s favourite prasad made with purity and not let any flaws happen in the pran pratishtha? Even on the historic day of the temple’s pran pratishtha, could the trust not have made only one prasad, which was absolutely pure, and offered to the Lord and shouldn’t it have been distributed equally to everyone?
Think about it, the British, in order to hurt the sentiments of the people in the ravines of India in 1857, committed the sin of using animal fat (cow fat, pig fat) in the cartridges. As a result, the soldiers revolted. After that, in the 80s, there were reports of a ruckus by Jain brothers over the use of animal fat in vegetable ghee. And now there is an unimaginable blow of adulteration of prasadam with animal fat or cow fat, which has made us Hindus commit a sin after sin by consuming the bhog and prasad of Tirupati Balaji and the newly built Ram temple. So, is this Narendra Modi, Yogi Adityanath’s Ram Rajya or the extremely sinful Kali Yuga?
This is neither a big deal nor a question on Narendra Modi’s leadership. I was disgusted when I came to know the news. There was no question of writing anything. But then I read the political comment of another ‘prasadam’ of Modi Raj, former President Ramnath Kovind. He said in Varanasi on Saturday (September 22)- Last night some of my colleagues went to Baba Vishwanath Dham. When I was given Baba’s prasadam at night, I remembered the Tirumala incident. I was a little upset. Such cheap adulteration can happen in every pilgrimage place. According to Hindu religion, this is a big sin. This should be investigated properly.
Who will investigate? Those who distributed adulterated prasad in Ayodhya? Those who have mixed everything in everything for the last ten years. They have corrupted and impure everything. Those who have brought shame to Sanatan Dharma by mixing politics in temples, temples in politics, stupidity in governance, ignorance in education, lies in truth, superstition in faith, etc. What will they investigate? And how much adulteration will there be in their investigation? Today only I heard that preparations are on for the Praan Pratishtha of Ram Lalla on 22 January 2025!
Does Pran Pratishtha happen again and again? It is clear that this is the ‘prasadam’ of ten years of Modi rule that the country of 140 crore people has become such a ravine, in which there is not even the slightest consideration of faith, religiosity, public shame, public sentiment. I do not understand how the arrogant people of power have become so fearless, shameless? If even the number one richest Tirupati Devasthan Trust of Hindus cannot offer pure laddus to its God and devotees with completely pure feelings, then why should the people of this ravine call themselves Hindus, Sanatan Dharmi?
At a temple where crores of people offer immense offerings, money, which has an income of billions of rupees, can’t the priests, IAS officers who manage the trust, bureaucrats and the devotee trustees who have been appointed by the grace of the government do even this much that they buy the ghee of the indigenous cow by paying the full price? Why should the so-called Hindu managers and trustees of the temple for which the devotees are ready to sacrifice everything think that they will buy ghee from the one who gives the cheapest ghee through tender. Whereas it is universally accepted that regular supply of tons of real cow ghee is not possible at the rate of Rs 319 or Rs 475 per kilogram.
It is roughly estimated that one kg of pure ghee of a native cow costs one thousand to one and a half thousand rupees. But even at this price, while Lord Venkateswara of Tirupati will be delighted by buying ghee and offering laddus, the devotees will also not hesitate to buy it at high prices due to the sanctity of purity (although prasad should not be sold. That is again a deal. It is a betrayal of religion). It is said that about three lakh laddus are made daily in Tirupati and its revenue is about five hundred crore rupees annually. About ten thousand kg of ghee is consumed every day.
Think about it, if in the last five years, fatty laddoos were sold in the name of ‘prasadam’, then in the last five years, devout Hindus across the country and the world have bought and consumed about 5,475 lakh laddoos with full faith. In the last ten years, Modi and the BJP have made different records of ordering laddoos after electoral victories to celebrate their victory or to use them in the Ayodhya program. And adulteration in all of them was predetermined because it is impossible to supply 100% pure Desi Ghee at a rate of Rs. 319 per kg.
According to an expert, usually 15 tonnes of ghee is made from six lakh liters of cow milk. First of all, no single company has the system to collect cow milk on such a large scale for such supply. Despite this, even at low rates, the company and Tirupati Devasthan are maintaining the fraud of pure ghee in the sale and purchase deal. Also consider the fact that a Karnataka supplier Nandini Company (which has cows) is supplying at the rate of Rs 475 per kilogram, while the Devasthan is buying ghee from another company at Rs 319 per kg. So how is it selling it at a lower rate?
Actually, there are not enough cows in the area to supply the amount of ghee needed for Tirupati Laddus. But the temple management is immersed in the business of demand, supply and earning, so buy and sell indiscriminately. According to the BBC report, no state except Karnataka has so many cows. It is difficult to get ghee from Punjab due to the distance. Private companies adulterate the milk with butter oil imported from abroad. Actually, to get the tender of TTD, one should have the capacity to process 2.5 lakh liters of milk. Therefore, milk is made into butter oil by mixing palm oil.
But Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has directly said that the ghee is made of ‘animal fat’. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) Executive Officer Shyamala Rao (appointed by Chandrababu) has confirmed this. The samples were tested by the CALF Lab (Centre for Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food) of the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) of Gujarat. In its lab report, the samples failed on all five parameters based on the ‘S value’. Therefore, the ghee is adulterated with both vegetable oil and animal fat.
Another shameful thing. Tirupati Devasthan, which has a wealth of billions of rupees, did not feel the need to build a lab at its own place costing Rs 75 lakhs if it is buying so much ghee and regular testing should be done. What does this prove?
Sell anything to the Hindus of the ravines, they will eat it with their heads bowed down. Even if it is animal fat? Even if it is cow fat? And the biggest tragedy of the poor Hindus is that in the time of Modi rule, they themselves are giving them prasad containing animal fat. On one hand there is politics against cow slaughter and on the other hand now every household is feeling ashamed that they fed animal fat prasad to their God and ate it themselves! What a disgusting deceit is this under the guise of the business of Hindu politics!
Think, what a mess Sanatan Dharma has been made of in the name of “Hindu” politics. Everything has become a fraud, business and buying and selling. Temples have become commercial. Darshan, Prasad are for sale. Worship is for sale. Sermons are for sale. And faith, religiosity, spirituality is just a show. Yes, now the behavior is more disgusting than the animal fat Prasadam. All the respect, sanctity of conduct, thoughts, truth, morality, simplicity, peace, cleanliness, purity that were there earlier in all the options of Sanatan Dharma are now gone. In its place is that ‘Prasadam’, on which no amount of writing will be less.
‘Prasadam’ is synonymous with the Amrit Kaal of the last ten years! In the end, every reader should also know that the corruption of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan, whom Chandrababu Naidu has blamed for adulteration in Prasadam, was protected by the Modi government. There were corruption charges against Jagan Mohan during the Dr. Manmohan government. There were investigations by ED and CBI, all of which were stopped by the Modi government as soon as it came to power. That is why when Jagan Mohan defeated Chandrababu and formed the government in Andhra Pradesh, it was with the BJP.
In the Rajya Sabha, in the Parliament, she was a supporter of the Modi government. Therefore, Chandrababu, in his anger, has called the Jagan Mohan Reddy government corrupt by giving fatty prasadam, and this is also their mutual, family revenge. It is also true that the Reddy family is Christian, so Chandrababu Naidu played the Hindu card. But the master of both was and is only Narendra Modi. The leaders of Andhra are merely sub-contractors of Delhi’s power.
Anyway, O my Lord, Lord Venkateswara (whom I had imagined as Balaji in my childhood) and Lord Shri Ram (about whose work I had fearlessly written in ‘Jansatta’), please forgive me that keeping you in my mind, considering you as an offering, I ate laddu made of cow fat in your name.