BJP seeks protection of rights of Hindus in temples

The YSRCP government is resorting to vote-bank politics, alleges Veerraju

Somu Veerraju

A team of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) led by its State president Somu Veerraju on Monday visited Bhramaramba Mallikarjuna Swamy temple at Srisailam on Monday, as part of the party’s Statewide yatra that is aimed at protecting the ‘sanctity’ of temples.

Accusing the YSRCP government of adopting ‘anti-Hindu approach’, Mr. Veerraju told the media that the government must protect all the Hindu temples in the State and that it should stop resorting to ‘vote-bank politics’.

“Srisailam is among the Jyothirlingams and a Shakti Peetham too. How can people from other religions run shops in the temple complex areas. The new shops instead of allotting to Hindus are kept closed,” Mr. Veerraju alleged. He said the TDP and the YSRCP governments had been allowing two persons from another faith to run shops in the temple complex areas, which shows the both the governments’ ‘lack of concern for protecting the rights of the Hindus’.

“The State government has been encouraging construction of churches, giving salaries to pastors and muezzins, but was not protecting the right of the Scheduled Caste to retain their religion (Hinduism),” Mr. Veerraju said.

Citing example of the alleged murder of a person belonging to Scheduled Tribe community at Tripurantakam for ‘refusing to go to church, Mr. Veerraju alleged that the YSRCP activists had attacked STs for the latter were not coming to church, and a 14-year-old was injured in the melee and he is still in a state of coma. The BJP leader alleged that cases had not been registered against the accused at the behest of a Minister.

The BJP activists also staged a protest against the construction of houses for people from other faiths in the Srisailam temple complex areas. “Let them be given houses outside the temple complex,” Mr. Veerraju said and warned of an agitation.

Krishna water sharing

The lack of sufficient interest being shown by the State government was responsible for the delay in completion of the irrigation projects, while the Centre had been considerate, said Mr. Veerraju. The gazette notification issued by the Centre on the Krishna waters sharing was a genuine effort to give legitimate rights to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.

There are some technical mistakes in the gazette, which would be corrected and Vice-President M. Venkaiah Naidu was also looking into it, he added.