Alleging that the State government was resorting to large-scale diversion of funds belonging to the Endowments Department and Hindu religious institutions including the TTD, BJP State president Somu Veerraju questioned whether Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy would dare to take a single rupee from the Christian missionaries.
Participating in a demonstration organised by BJP in Vijayawada on Wednesday in a protest against the government’s negligence in getting hundreds of dilapidated temples rebuilt and renovated, Mr. Somu Veerraju asked on what basis did the government allocate ₹25 crore for the construction of 248 Churches (sums ranging from ₹84,000 to ₹1 crore).
He demanded that Endowments Minister Vellampalli Srinivas should resign for saying that the government would get ‘Dargahs’ built. When Mr. Srinivas was in the BJP, he had spearheaded agitations against the demolition of several Hindu temples in Vijayawada in the run-up to Krishna Pushkaram in 2016.
Former CM N. Chandrababu Naidu during whose regime the temples were razed, should speak up for the cause, Mr. Veerraju demanded. Even as the temples in Vijayawada were in ruins, a big statue of Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy was installed close by.
The AP BJP chief said the historic temple of Lord Siva at Tripurantakam in Prakasam district, which he visited a few days ago, was in a bad shape, so are many temples which generate huge income to the State exchequer.
These funds were diverted and lands belonging to temples were being given as house sites.
Even more glaring was the government’s inaction in the cases related to burning of the chariot of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple at Antarvedi and missing of silver lions at Kanaka Durga temple in Vijayawada.
The BJP demands that the government should refrain from meddling with Hindu temples and religious institutions, Mr. Veerraju demanded and warned of intensifying the agitation.
Published - December 16, 2020 05:04 pm IST
