I have been seeing many videos and condemnations regarding the Bhagavad Gita books printed by TTD during the YSRCP regime. The purpose of these books, as stated, was to distribute them to Hindu children in schools.
However, the argument being made by some television channels and their reporters is that the Bhagavad Gita book is “too small” and they question how all 700 shlokas could possibly be contained in such a small book.
Honestly, this is one of the most absurd arguments I have heard, and I wonder what exactly these reporters are trying to say.
We all know that pocket-size Bhagavad Gita editions are also widely available. The shlokas along with their meanings can easily be printed in a compact format. In fact, such editions are readily available even on platforms like Amazon.
TV5’s Sambasiva Rao even showed an ISKCON Bhagavad Gita and said that the Bhagavad Gita should be of that size.
How can anyone assume that there is only one “correct” physical size for the Gita? A holy book can be printed in any size depending on the purpose and audience.
While that is one complaint, another complaint is about the content of the book.
The present TTD Chairman, B.R. Naidu, has stated that there is "nothing" in the book and implied it iis trash. But how can that be finalized without a proper review? Why not appoint a committee to examine the book?
For example, a committee with scholars like Chaganti Koteshwara Rao or other respected spiritual speakers could evaluate the content and clarify whether there is anything problematic in it or not.
The final complaint I came across concerns the foreword written by Dharma Reddy and Karunakar Reddy, who were in TTD positions at that time.
If the objection is only about the foreword, those specific pages could simply be removed before distribution. Why waste public money and devotees’ donations by discarding the entire stock of books?
In my view, the debate about the size of the Bhagavad Gita book is the silliest argument that some media channels have started around this issue.
Padmaja Avirneni