Christian Attempts to Takeover Tirupati

[Guest guest]

Sandhya Jain <jsandhya@b...> wrote:

Organizer-Tirupathi-24July2005

 

 

 

Tirupathi on evangelist hit-list

 

 

 

Sandhya Jain

 

 

 

Evangelists are targetting the sacred site of Tirumala and in a

direct affront to the Hindu community, which has for centuries

regarded all seven hills as holy, have starting gathering on the

slopes in groups for public prayers. Even though an officer of the

State-controlled Tirumala Tirupati Devasathanam (TTD) which manages

the world famous Venkateshwara temple has denied that a missionary

society has submitted a proposal to build a church on the hills,

there is widespread disbelief on account of the known biases of

Chief Minister Samuel Reddy.

 

 

 

The denials by TTD special officer A.V. Dharma Reddy follow reports

in leading Telugu newspapers such as Eenadu and television channels

like ETV, Teja TV, Gemini TV and Sun TV. Former Chief Minister

Chandra Babu Naidu, who was reportedly tipped off by informed

sources in the Secretariat, has strongly condemned the move, as has

the state BJP.

 

 

What lends credence to Hindu fears is the despicable

statement by the Government official that the TTD temple owns only

10.33 sq. miles of land on the hills, and this land is administered

by the mandir trust. This is a transparent ploy to deny the sacred

character of all seven hills in their entirety, and restrict the

sacred site of the Hindu community to the formal boundary of the

extant temple of Lord Venkateshwara.

 

 

 

Clearly we are witnessing the development of a major assault upon

one of the most venerated sites of the Hindu community. Should it

happen, it will be a desecration at par with that of the Mylapore

Shiva temple in Chennai. Hitherto, there has never been any question

of a structure other than the shrine of Lord Venkateshwara on these

hills, and it bears remembering that it is the hills that are holy

and not merely the mandir which adorns them. For instance, a temple

along a busy thoroughfare would be holy, but the adjacent land would

not be deemed sacred.

 

 

 

Thus, the attempt to limit the sacredness of Tirumala to the

boundary of the temple, i.e. 10.33 sq. miles, is suspicious and

suggests that the State Government may be preparing the ground for

landing over land to a church body on one of the slopes. This is

consistent with the systematic defilement of Hindu institutions

since the UPA became ascendant in national life, as witnessed in the

harassment of the Kanchi Shankaracharya and Bal Shankaracharya, and

attempts to take over prominent Hindu temples.

 

 

 

What lends urgency to Hindu fears is the fact that six large

churches have already sprung up on the road to Tirumala (Bye-pass

road and new Bye-pass road) that leads to Alipiri, the foot of the

hills. It is therefore imperative that the State Government

recognize the entire seven hills as the sacred abode of Shri

Venkateshwara, and ensure that no structure of any other religion is

allowed to come up there.

 

 

 

Hindu activists in the region point out that when Ms.

Sonia Gandhi violated the rules and entered the sanctum sanctorum of

Tirumala Tirupati Devasathanam some years ago, without signing the

mandatory declaration for practitioners of other religions; she was

facilitated in this outrage by the then TTD executive officer Ajay

Kallam. The activists point out that according to the local bush

telegraph, Mr. Ajay Kallam and some of his family members converted

to Christianity some time ago, and this fact may have some bearing

on some of their public actions. For instance, Mr. Kallam sought to

auction hundred acres of land belonging to the Hathi Ramji Matham

(Tirumala) a year ago, and it was only with difficulty that the

auction was eventually cancelled.

 

 

 

The point being made is that it is a terrible sacrilege that State

control of Hindu holy sites enables non-Hindus to seize control of

major temples and run them according to an undisclosed agenda. Non-

believers have infiltrated critical areas of these institutions. It

is already a matter of considerable concern that the enormous

revenues of Hindu temples in south India are being misused to fund

the Hajj subsidy and renovate churches, while temples and priests

remain starved of basic funds. Now more than ever before there is

need to expedite the return of the temples to the community.

 

 

 

According to field activists, an official scrutiny of lands and

properties acquired by evangelical organizations may shed

interesting light upon a phenomenon best dubbed as 'colonization

through land ownership.' The value of the properties and the costs

of the gigantic bureaucracies associated with them would be an eye-

opener. It is instructive, for instance, to drive through the

Coromandel Coast from Vishakapatnam to Toottukkudi, and observe the

plethora of churches proliferating along the route; most are new

constructions. A journey to Guntur and Eluru may be similarly

instructive.

 

 

 

The Andhra Pradesh Government is a wholly unsuitable custodian of

Tirupathi and must be made to surrender control of this holy shrine.

Some time ago it condoned the demolition of the 550-year old

Thousand Pillar Temple for no good reason. A Government that lacks

the sense of the sacrality of the seven hills which have been

regarded as a tirthasthanam and devasthanam from time immemorial

cannot be allowed to preside over its destiny.

 

 

 

EOM

 

 

 

 

 

--- End forwarded message ---