Non-Hindus cannot work at Tirupati temple
Some 18 employees of Andhra Pradesh's main Hindu place of worship have been targeted for transfer to other government offices or voluntary retirement. The new state government is backing identity politics against the previous administration led by a Christian chief minister.
Tirupati (AsiaNews) – The foundation that administers the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), the most important temple in Andhra Pradesh run directly by the state government, has taken action against 18 employees for violating the rule that requires staff to follow Hindu traditions with workers given two options: move to other government departments or apply for voluntary retirement.
The issue of non-Hindus in Tirupati has long been a rallying point for Hindu nationalists. A few years ago, they led a campaign against allowing Christians into the city.
More recently, a storm erupted after the state’s new coalition government, which is backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reportedly found animal fats in laddu, the typical Indian sweets sold at the temple to be presented as an offering.
Bollineni Rajagopala Naidu, founder of a local television network and chairman of the TTD board of directors, wants to purge the foundation of all non-Hindus so that it remains a symbol of Hindu faith and holiness. The TTD manages all temple activities.
Naidu's decision is based on a 1989 law that requires TTD employees to adhere to Hindu customs. The Indian Constitution itself in Article 16 allows institutions of a religious or confessional nature to hire members of their own religion.
The issue of the staff’s religion had surfaced in 2017, when a video showed the then deputy director of the temple's welfare department, Sneha Latha, visiting a church using her official car.
The foundation’s administrators came under further attacks in 2019, when a Christian, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, took office as a Andhra Pradesh chief minister allied to Congress.
The Hindu nationalist BJP accused him of favouring religious conversions in Tirumala and across the state. He was also accused in connection with ads for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem printed on the back of Tirumala bus tickets.
Now, with his defeat in the 2024 elections, battle lines are being drawn around the temple, which is becoming the symbol of a new course in Andhra Pradesh.
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