Hyderabad: The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), administrator of the famed Lord Venkateswara temple in Andhra Pradesh, has suspended a senior officer for allegedly practicing Christianity, in violation of the declaration he signed to adhere to Hinduism at the time of his appointment.
TTD Assistant Executive Officer A. Rajasekhar Babu was suspended Tuesday after temple authorities found that the official attends local church prayers every Sunday in his hometown, Puttur, in Tirupati district.
Babu, posted as general manager in the auctions department, is among the 18 Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams employees ordered in February to keep away from the Lord Venkateswara temple as well as any rituals and religious activities associated with TTD-run shrines.
Following complaints that he allegedly continued to adhere to a non-Hindu faith, the TTD initiated a vigilance enquiry.
After examining the report submitted by the TTD Vigilance Department and other related evidence, departmental action was initiated against Babu according to the rules and he was suspended with immediate effect, said the TTD.
“Such practice is nothing but a violation of TTD norms. He has flouted the code of conduct as an employee of the organisation, and has acted irresponsibly as an employee representing a Hindu religious organisation,” TTD said in a statement Tuesday evening.
The suspension comes amid the push by Andhra Pradesh’s Telugu Desam Party-led NDA government to keep non-Hindus out of services at the Venkateshwara temple, a sensitive political and religious issue in the state.
In March, while on a darshan visit to the hill shrine, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had said that “only Hindus should be employed at the temple”. “If individuals from other religions are currently working there, they will be relocated to other places without hurting their sentiments,” Naidu had told reporters at Tirumala.
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Employees under scrutiny
The 18 employees in TTD service identified as non-Hindu, or not entirely Hindu, include a professor, two principals, three lecturers, a deputy executive officer, three nurses, one radiographer and some lower-level staff like a hostel worker, an electrician and an office subordinate.
In a memo dated 1 February, the TTD, custodian of the Lord Venkateshwara and 60 other temples, barred all these functionaries from duties at the temples, and prohibited their participation in TTD religious functions and programmes.
The punitive action was in response to the employees’ adherence to non-Hindu faiths and at the same time, “also taking part in Hindu religious fairs, festivals and functions conducted by TTD”, which the board says, “impacts the sanctity, sentiments and beliefs of crores of Hindu devotees”.
“It has been proved that the 18 TTD employees are practicing and participating in non-Hindu religious activities, though they have taken the oath before the photograph/idol of Lord Sri Venkateswara Swamy stating that they will follow the Hindu Dharma (religion) and Hindu traditions only,” TTD executive officer Syamala Rao has said in the memo.
The notice, a copy of which is with ThePrint, had said that the identified employees had sworn they would not follow non-Hindu religious activities in compliance with the endowments department rules of 1989. The memo says the disciplinary action against the employees is to curtail their non-Hindu religious activities.
In addition to managing temples, the TTD, a vast organisation employing thousands and boasting an annual budget of over Rs 5000 crore, also runs several hospitals, schools and colleges, including Delhi’s Sri Venkateswara College. The TTD also operates the Sri Venkateswara Institute of Medical Sciences, a sophisticated super-specialty hospital at Tirupati, conceived in 1986 on the lines of AIIMS, New Delhi.
According to the memo, the academics on the list are posted at SV Ayurvedic College, Sri Padmavati Women’s Degree and PG College, SGS Arts College, SPW Polytechnic College and SV Arts College—all administered by the TTD and located in Tirupati.
The disciplinary move was taken after the reconstituted TTD board chairman, B.R. Naidu, chairman of popular Telugu news channel TV5 and supporter of CM Chandrababu Naidu, called for “a Hindu staff-only policy” at the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams.
The TTD trust board had passed a resolution in November 2024 in favour of allowing all non-Hindu employees to either take voluntary retirement, or be absorbed into the Tirupati municipality workforce or other suitable state government departments. But many of the employees are reportedly reluctant to opt for VRS or accept transfers to other departments.
The employment of non-Hindus has been a raging issue at the TTD, a world-famous Hindu pilgrimage centre, for over a decade.
A few years back, videos purportedly from 2017 surfaced on social media showing some senior TTD employees attending Sunday Mass at churches downhill and even using TTD-provided official cars to get there.
After public outrage over hurt Hindu sentiments and protests by Hindu rights groups, show cause notices were earlier issued to around 45 employees at various levels. The matter also went to the courts, with non-Hindu employees protesting the action.
The TTD employs around 6,600 permanent and 14,000 contract and outsourced staff, according to temple officials. However, Bhanu Prakash Reddy, one of the TTD board members and state BJP leader, said the figure of non-Hindus among them could be over 1,000, including contractual staff.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
These people are doing their job and serving Lord Venkateshwara. They may be adherents of diffreent faiths but this never came up before.
This sickening mindset is a poor reflection of the inclusiveness of Hinduism towards people of differnt faiths. This inclusiveness makes it an exceptional faith and is wrongly seen as a weakness.
If we are all children of God then why this discrimination?
It would be better to not give in to threats and the false sense of purity and insecurity that is a part of the mindset of bigots and extreme thinking people who exist in ever faith.