For the last few months, Telugu Desam Party, the main opposition in Andhra Pradesh, has been taking up the cause of Hindutva more than the Bharatiya Janata Party which is actually supposed to champion the cause of Hindus.
More than the saffron brigade, it was the TDP led by former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, which has raised a lot of hue and cry over the desecration of temples, vandalization of statues, alleged campaign of non-Hindus in Tirupati and alleged religious conversions.
The TDP did not hesitate to harp on chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s Christian faith and attribute it to the alleged attacks on temples, so as to cash in on the votes of the Hindus in the next elections. Naidu has virtually shed his secular cover and is blatantly taking up the Hindu cause.
In the latest instance, the TDP raised a strong objection over the reported decision of the Jagan government to make use of the temple premises to provide shelter to the poor Covid-19 patients.
TDP state executive secretary Buchi Ram Prasad on Tuesday advised the Jagan government not to play with the sentiments of the Hindus by turning the temples into Covid centres which would only amount to hurting the sentiments of the devotees.
Accusing the chief minister of continuing his partial treatment to the temples, archakas and devotees in the state, Ram Prasad said it would be better if the YSRCP regime focused on using the spare infrastructure available in schools, colleges and marriage halls for the Covid treatment purpose.
He said in the temples, there would be no toilet facilities usually. Hence, it would not be possible to provide the required facilities to the Covid patients. It was unfortunate that the present government targeted the temples instead of using schools and function halls that would have all the necessary facilities.
The TDP leader asked the Government to explain what steps they had taken to save archakas' lives during the Covid infections. Since the YCP came to power, there were over 180 attacks on the Hindu temples all over Andhra Pradesh. The YCP Government miserably failed to take any single step, he criticised.