YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minster Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Monday ordered a comprehensive inquiry by Crime Investigation Department (CID) into the vandalism in Ramatirtham temple in Vizianagaram district and desecration of Lord Ram idol.
The chief minister has taken serious note of the incident, following large scale political controversy over the unfortunate episode that took place in the intervening night of December 28 and 29.
As the issue hit even the national headlines and the Bharatiya Janata Party swung into action to make it a huge issue, the central government reportedly called for a report from the Jagan government. As a result, it had to order an inquiry into the incident.
Jagan, apparently, feels there is a largescale conspiracy behind a series of incidents of attacks on temples and desecration of idols.
At the police duty meet held in Tirupati, the chief minister pointed out that the incidents were happening whenever the government launches big programmes.
He criticised the opposition party leaders for playing cheap politics by using God, without having any fear or devotion towards him for just diverting people from government activities.
“Who actually benefits from smashing idols of God? Who benefits from anarchy in temples and chapels? Who benefits from provoking emotions and committing violence? Who benefits from making false propaganda that hurts people's faith? Who are being targeted by these evil acts? People need to think,” Jagan said.
He pointed out that the State government started Nadu-Nedu program in Ongole on 14 November 2019, on the same day the opposition brought the issue of demolition of Durga temple in Guntur district in road widening. In fact, that particular temple has been shifted to new premises even before the road widening.
On January 15, 2020, the government had set up a market intervention fund with Rs 3000 crore to purchase crops by paying the Minimum Support Price to the farmers. To divert this, the opposition vandalized Anjaneya Swamy temple in Pithapuram on January 21.
After one week of launching the first Disha Police Station, nearly three such incidents took place across the State.
On September 7, while the government announced to launch YSR Sampoorna Poshana, the previous night Antarvedi Chariot was gutted in fire by miscreants.
Similar incidents were plotted during the distribution of House sites, destroying the Ramalayam in Vizianagaram district.
He pointed out that most of the temples are not covered under the Endowments Department and attack on temples has been happening in remote areas at late hours when no one is around, especially in private temples owned by opposition.
“We have already installed CCTV cameras in 20,000 temples but still, through a section of media and social platforms, opposition leaders are campaigning on these issues for political gain,” the chief minister said.