Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has initiated a 11-day ‘Prayashchitta Diksha’ to atone for the use of animal fat in laddus offered at at the highly revered Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple in Tirumala.
Making the announcement on X (formally twitter), the Andhra Pradesh deputy CM said that the inability to detect the alleged adulteration of Tirumala Laddu Prasadam is a “stain on the Hindu race.”
The Jana Sena Party chief started the initiation on September 22 morning at Sri Dashavatara Venkateswara Swamy Temple, Nambur, Guntur District. He will continue the process in the temple for eleven days.
“Tirumala Laddu Prasadam, which is considered to be sacred, has become impure as a result of the depraved tendencies of the past rulers. Not being able to detect this sin in the beginning is a stain on the Hindu race. The moment I came to know that the laddu prasadam contained animal remains, I was shocked. Feeling guilty. As I am fighting for the welfare of the people, it hurts me that such trouble did not come to my attention in the beginning,” Kalyan wrote in his post.
Everyone who believes in Sanatana Dharma should atone for this terrible injustice done to Balaji, the god of Kali Yuga. As part of that, I decided to do a penance initiation, he added. “On 22nd September 2024, Sunday morning, I will take initiation in Sri Dashavatara Venkateswara Swamy Temple, Nambur, Guntur District. After continuing the initiation for 11 days, I will visit Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Swamy,” the post read.
The megastar-turned-politician termed the previous ruling state government led by Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy as ‘demonic rulers’, and said that he is “pained as even the board members and employees who are a part of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam system are not able to find out the mistakes there, even if they find out, they don't talk about it”.
“It seems that they were afraid of the demonic rulers of that time. The behaviour of the past rulers, who committed acts of blasphemy to the sanctity, pedagogy, and religious duties of Tirumala, which is considered Vaikuntha Dham, has hurt everyone who follows Hindu dharma. The time has come to take steps towards restoring Dharma,” Kalyan added.
Earlier, the deputy chief minister came down heavily on Jagan and his party, and has claimed that the management of temple affairs under the previous YSRCP government had led to many ‘illicit’ activities inside the temple complex, which affected the sanctity of the place.
“When people of no commitment and no value and no respect for the sanctity of the temple, if they take charge this is what happens... It is not just about prasad, maybe liquor and non-veg was supplied, people were having parties there,” Kalyan said.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) claimed that ghee used to prepare Tirupati laddus, offered at Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, contains beef tallow, lard and other substandard ingredients. The allegation is ‘backed’ by a lab report where the samples of the Tirupati laddus were sent for testing.
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the body managing the temple’s affairs, agreed to the allegations and said that ghee suppliers took advantage of the lack of in-house adulteration testing facility as well as not using outside facilities. TTD Executive Officer Shyamala Rao said lab tests had revealed the presence of animal fat and lard in chosen samples.