TDP Official Spokesperson Kommareddy Pattabhi Ram on Tuesday accused the Jaganmohan Reddy Government in Andhra Pradesh of hatching a wider conspiracy to take electoral and political advantage by dividing the AP society along religious lines.
Mr. Pattabhi strongly objected to the comments of AP DGP Gautam Sawang that hundreds of attacks also took place on temples during the previous Telugu Desam Party regime. The DGP was making baseless statements and he should come out with proofs for his charges.
Addressing a press conference here, the TDP Spokesman asserted that there was total religious harmony during the Chandrababu Naidu regime during 2014-`19 with equal safety and security given to the temples, churches and masjids without any partiality. Immediate steps were taken and any untoward incident was brought immediately under control. But now, the Jagan Reddy rule was lethargic and lenient towards culprits which has now resulted in occurrence of over 95 to 100 attacks on temples in just 16 months.
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Mr. Pattabhi deplored that the attacks on temples were continuing even after the sensational torching of sacred chariot at Antarvedi Lakshminarasimha Swamy Temple. Recently, a Nandeeshwara idol was demolished at a Shiva temple in Chittoor district and another Hanuman idol was vandalised in Nellore district. No action was taken against the perpetrators till now. There is no security for the temples any more. The YCP Government was not giving equal importance to all religions like in the TDP rule. A draconian circular was issued recently by the Government to take away lands of temples.
Stating that the lands of temples were being misused for sand mining as well, Mr. Pattabhi said that the funds of the Brahmin Corporation were being diverted. The sentiments of Hindu devotees were being hurt at every stage. The special schemes like Divya Darshan launched by the TDP regime were being cancelled. This scheme was aimed at assisting Hindu devotees to visit temples across the State. While this scheme was scrapped, the Jagan Reddy rule was continuing the Jerusalem and the Haji pilgrimages without any changes. The religious ‘Aarti’ programmes introduced by Mr. Chandrababu Naidu at Pavitrasangamam was also discontinued despite the fact that this was initiated on the lines of the Ganga Aarti in Varanasi.
Stating that there was no let-up in attacks on temples, Mr. Pattabhi demanded an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into all the attacks on temples and not just one Antarvedi incident. Other religion propaganda was going on at the temples. Idols were being demolished and stolen. A YCP Minister spoke in defence of demolitions of idols thereby hurting the sentiments of Hindu devotees. The DGP should book cases and arrest the Minister for causing religious enmity, for insulting feelings of devotees and for hurting a group of people with a malicious intent.
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