The world famous Prasad (Laddus) of Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple (Tirupati Temple) of Andhra Pradesh was being prepared, He is not only adulterated, but in that’fish oil’,’beef-tallow’ And ‘Lord’ (Elements like pig fat) have also been found. The faith and sanctity of crores of devotees continued to be attacked for years and no one paid any attention… Apart from the purification of the temple by the sages and saints, the Hindu society largely remained silent.
Tirupati Prasad case
On September 19, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s revelation regarding the offerings of Tirupati Tirumala temple shocked the hearts of countless devout Hindus. According to the investigation report of the National Dairy Development Board, the ghee from which the world famous Prasad (Laddus) of Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple (Tirupati Temple) of Andhra Pradesh was being prepared is not only adulterated but also contains ‘fish oil’, ‘beef oil’ Elements like ‘tallow’ and ‘lard’ (pig fat) have also been found. The faith and purity of crores of devotees continued to be attacked for years and no one paid any heed. What has happened since this news became public? Barring political allegations, aggressive media reporting and legal action, Hindu society has largely remained silent except for the purification of the temple by sages and saints.
It can be said that some Hindus were shocked by this revelation, while many felt helpless over it. What is the reason for this? Perhaps the sensitivity of the Hindu society has become blunt after suffering oppression for centuries, hence even in the face of grave injustice, their reaction is generally very limited or non-existent.
This is not the first time. When the British, the Left and the Muslim League together partitioned India in August 1947, leaving crores of people homeless and lakhs of innocent people killed – then without any widespread anger, a large section of the Hindu society was busy reconciling its lives in the divided India. He went and started improving his life with his hard work and intelligence. Even in the name of secularism given by Pandit Nehru, over time, it politically and socially accepted that class, due to whose influence the country was directly or indirectly divided.
This mentality of Hindus was probably recognized by Gandhiji a century ago, hence when Jihadis were wreaking havoc on Hindus at most places in the communal riots generated by the Khilafat Movement (1919-24), he wrote ‘Young India’ on 29 May 1924. ‘, Muslims were addressed as ‘Dheeng’ (scoundrels), and Hindus were addressed as ‘Dabbu’.
The first major case of Hindu insensitivity in independent India came in the period of 1980-90, when Kashmiri Pandits in the valley had to become victims of Jihad because of their worship system and Sanatan tradition. Not only Hindu temples were targeted, but also to spread terror in Kashmir, terrorists with the help of local Muslims started publicly killing influential Hindus and looting the honor of their daughters-in-law. As a result, five Kashmiri Pandits were forced to leave their ancestral land and property worth crores in the valley overnight and live in camps like the displaced people in other parts of the country. Even then, a large section of the Hindu society in the rest of India remained spectators.
Almost a decade after this incident, on 27 February 2002, near Godhra railway station in Gujarat, Jihadis killed 59 kar sevaks by burning them alive in a train compartment. There was no reaction inside or outside Parliament the day after the incident. At that time, a reputed English daily in its editorial blamed the victimized Hindus for this heinous massacre by saying that they were raising slogans of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ in the Muslim dominated area while returning from the pilgrimage to Ayodhya. As communal violence erupted in Gujarat in response to the Godhra incident, the Congress-led UPA government (2004-14) subsequently established the false-myth theory of ‘Hindu/saffron terrorism’ to indirectly sanction or justify Islamic fundamentalism. And also started an unsuccessful attempt to pass the anti-Hindu ‘communal bill’.
It is an irony that ever since the discovery of animal fat being found in the Prasad of Tirupati Tirumala temple, no government initiative has been taken to prevent this great sin, like the beard of Prophet Mohammad Sahib was removed in the end of December 1963. It happened due to loss of hair (Moo-e-Mukaddas). Muslims believe that a hair (Mu-e-Mukaddas) of Prophet Mohammad Sahib’s beard is kept in Hazratbal Dargah in Srinagar, the rumor of its theft on 26 December 1963 spread like wildfire. Thousands of Muslims started protesting in Pakistan and the rest of the country including Kashmir. Then the then Prime Minister Pt. Nehru sent his senior minister Lal Bahadur Shastri to Kashmir along with the then head of the Indian Intelligence Agency, Bholanath Malik, to handle the matter.
In January 1964, he claimed to have found Mu-e-Mukaddas and the matter was put to rest. According to Malik, when he informed Pandit Nehru about this, Nehru had told him, “You have saved Kashmir for India.” This comment of Pt. Nehru underlines that issues related to ‘faith’ cannot be left to ordinary administrative measures or ordinary legal procedures.
The management of over one lakh temples (including Tirupati) in several states of India is controlled by the respective governments. The Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple is run by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam Trust, which is also the richest temple trust in the world. According to media reports, till April 2024, Tirupati Trust had an amount of Rs 18,817 crore in its bank account. The temple management earns an annual income of around Rs 500 crore. The trust has a total of 11,329 kg of gold, which is worth about Rs 8,496 crore.
According to a report, on an average 87 thousand devotees visit Tirupati temple every day. It takes 42 thousand kg of ghee, 22,500 kg of cashew nuts, 15 thousand kg of raisins and 6 thousand kg of cardamom every month to make the laddus that they get as Prasad. The real question is why their purity and quality are not tested daily in a modern laboratory? It is surprising that even after the revelation of the great sin of finding animal fat in the Prasad, nothing is being talked about in this regard.