Only Hindus should be employed in the Lord Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala and employees of other faith would be transferred, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said Friday.
The remarks, made during the chief minister’s visit to the temple to mark the birthday of his grandson N Devansh Naidu, comes nearly two months after the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board, which manages the temple, transferred 18 employees “practicing and participating in non-Hindu religious activities”.
“People belonging to other faiths, if they are still working in the temple, they will be respectfully relocated to other places. If Christians or Muslims do not wish to continue working in Hindu places, their sentiments would be respected and transferred,” he said.
The CM also announced he was cancelling the allotment of 35 acres of land in Tirupati to hotel developers of Devalok, MRKR and Mumtaz builders. The allotment was made by the previous YSR Congress Party government.
The move, he claimed, was to “to protect the sanctity of the temple town”. It also came following “serious opposition to the development of luxury hotels here”, he said.
Observing that several villages in the state are seeking a local Lord Venkateswara temple, Naidu Music said a trust would be set up to mobilising funds for this purpose.
“Anna Danam (food distribution) programme was launched during the late (CM) NT Rama Rao’s tenure and now Prana Danam (Life Donation) programme has been introduced,” Naidu told the media. “As the third programme we are planning construction of temples and the trust will be formed only for the service of the God.”
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A decision had also been taken to construct Lord Venkateswara temples in the capital cities of all states, he said. “We will soon write to all the chief ministers in the state for this purpose,” he said.
Six of the 18 employees transferred out of Tirumala on February 1 were teachers at various TTD educational institutes. The others included a deputy executive officer (Welfare), an assistant executive officer, an assistant technical officer (electrical), a hostel worker, two electricians, and two nurses.
The order states that “as dedicated servant of the Lord Venkateswara” all the TTD employees are committed to maintain the sanctity of the temple “by upholding the traditions and values that have been followed for centuries and to uphold the beliefs and sentiments of the devotees”.
This order came months after the TTD had decided at a board meeting to transfer non-Hindus and ban political speeches.
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“All 18 have been moved to posts that were mutually agreed upon, an official said. As of now, there are no employees of other faiths working in Tirumala,” he said.
