MUCH ADO ABOUT LADDU

Political stunts in the wake of the Tirumala adulteration case are unlikely to yield electoral gains

- RAHUL DEVULAPALLI

You are a Christian chief minister. I am a Hindu. Don’t you have a responsibility to protect Hindu temples?” This statement, in January 2021, by the then opposition leader and Telugu Desam Party president N. Chandrababu Naidu was meant for chief minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy. He was reacting to reports of desecration of temples in the coastal state. Around the same time, Naidu alleged that Jagan was encouraging conversions to Christianity and asked why pastors were being given pension of 05,000 a month.

It was a rare occasion of Naidu, generally seen as a progressive leader, mixing religion and politics. When the Tirumala laddu controversy erupted this year, Naidu, as chief minister, alleged that chairmen of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) under Jagan’s rule, B. Karunakar Reddy and Y.V. Subba Reddy, both had “Christian allegiance”. Both denied the claim. When Jagan called off a planned visit to the Tirumala temple after the police asked leaders and cadre of the YSR Congress Party to stay away during his visit, Naidu targeted Jagan again. He accused Jagan of making excuses, implying that he had no genuine interest in going to the temple nor did he respect its traditions.

Laddu, the famed prasadam of the Tirumala temple, has an additional ingredient now—communal politics. While the matter is related to food adulteration, under scrutiny are politicians, their allegations and actions. 

Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy won the tender to supply ghee to the TTD in December 2023 and started supplying it in June, after a change in government. Eight tankers of ghee was supplied to the TTD in June and July. The ghee from the first four tankers passed the preliminary test at TTD labs and was used to make