Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu Friday firmly declared the state NDA government’s resolve to keep non-Hindus out of the services at the Lord Venkateswara temple, Tirupati, addressing a persistent political and religious issue.
On a darshan visit to the hill shrine, Naidu said, “Only Hindus should be employed at the temple.”
“If individuals from other religions, like Christianity, are currently working there, they will be relocated, rehabilitated to other places respectfully, without hurting their sentiments,” the chief minister told reporters at Tirumala, after a review with Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) officials.
CM Naidu’s statement comes as an endorsement of the action taken last month by the TTD, when it issued notices to 18 non-Hindu employees and barred them from the iconic temple, and rituals and religious activities associated with other TTD-run shrines.
The disciplinary action was taken after the reconstituted board’s chairman B.R. Naidu, who also heads the popular Telugu news channel TV5, and is seen as a supporter of the chief minister, called for “a Hindu staff-only policy” at TTD.
The new board, replacing the Jagan Mohan Reddy government-nominated members, was formed in November following the Telugu Desam Party-Bharatiya Janata Party-JanaSena Party combine wresting power from the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party.
The employment of non-Hindus in the temple has been a raging issue in Tirumala-Tirupati, a world-famous Hindu pilgrimage centre, and also the state for over a decade.
The BJP, which leads the NDA at the Centre, and various right-wing organisations have been pressing for removal of such employees, which they say would be in hundreds at TTD.
The Naidu-led TDP had pursued the matter in its previous term too in the state, from 2014 to 2019.
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A look at the row
A few years ago, videos had surfaced on social media, purportedly of some senior TTD employees attending Sunday mass at the churches downhill, and even using TTD’s official cars to get there.
After public outrage over “hurt Hindu sentiments” and protests by right-wing groups, show cause notices were issued to around 45 employees at various levels.
The staff, many of whom had been employed in non-religious services like sanitation, nursing and gardening for many years—some for even decades—had then approached the Andhra Pradesh High Court alleging discrimination. In February 2018, the court provided them relief from dismissal until further orders.
A plan to shift TTD’s non-Hindu employees to Andhra Pradesh government departments was then reportedly mooted that year, during the TDP’s tenure, but could not materialise. As it severed ties with the BJP and began preparations for 2019 polls, the TDP shelved those plans.
In August 2019, during Jagan Reddy’s first term, then chief secretary L.V. Subrahmanyam, who had served as TTD executive officer from 2011 to 2013, took up the matter of non-Hindus working at the pilgrimage site.
He had reportedly also highlighted the need for surprise inspections at the residences of employees suspected to be practising a different faith. His removal from the post by Jagan, a practising Christian, soon after was linked to these actions.
In November last year, the new TTD board in a meeting approved a resolution in favour of allowing all non-Hindu employees to either take voluntary retirement or be absorbed into the Tirupati municipality workforce or other suitable state government departments.
As the state administration dragged its feet on TTD’s proposal, temple executive officer (EO) Syamala Rao on 1 February issued a memo to 18 employees, identified as non-Hindu or not entirely Hindu, ordering their transfer from jobs at the temples.
The executive officer said that the notices were in response to the said employees’ adherence to non-Hindu faiths and at the same time, “also taking part in Hindu religious fairs, festivals and functions conducted by TTD”, which the board says “impacts the sanctity, sentiments and beliefs of crores of Hindu devotees”.
“It has been proved that the 18 TTD employees are practising and participating in non-Hindu religious activities, though they have taken the oath before the photograph/idol of Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy stating that they will follow the Hindu dharma (religion) and Hindu traditions only,” the memo said.
The memo, a copy of which is with ThePrint, observed that the identified employees had sworn they would not follow non-Hindu religious activities in compliance with the 1989 endowments department rules.
A professor, two principals, three lecturers and one deputy executive officer are among the 18 employees barred from duties at the temples. One assistant EO, three nurses, one radiographer and lower-rung staff such as hostel worker, an electrician and an office subordinate are also prohibited from participation in religious functions and programmes of the TTD.
Rao’s memo says the disciplinary action against employees was meant to curtail their non-Hindu religious activities.
In addition to managing temples, the TTD, a vast organisation employing thousands and boasting an annual budget of over Rs 5,000 crore, also runs several hospitals, schools and colleges including Delhi’s Sri Venkateswara College. The TTD also operates the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, a sophisticated super specialty hospital at Tirupati, conceived in 1986 on the lines of AIIMS, New Delhi.
A TTD official told ThePrint that non-Hindus, though their exact number remains unclear, are mostly employed with the health and educational institutions mentioned above.
CM Naidu, along with his family, visited Tirumala Friday to seek blessings on the occasion of his grandson Nara Devansh’s birthday. They donated Rs 44 lakh towards one day annaprasadam (free meals) requirements of devotees at the Matrushri Tarigonda Vengamamba Annaprasadam Complex, where they also ate food taken as Lord Balaji prasadam.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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