Hyderabad: After a vicious assault by a fringe group on C.S. Rangarajan, the chief priest of Hyderabad’s Chilkur Balaji Temple, popularly known as the Visa Balaji temple, the opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) has accused Chief Minister Revanth Reddy of failing to maintain law and order in Telangana.
Former minister K.T. Rama Rao wrote on X Monday that “Dharma Rakshaks” (protectors of dharma) resort to violence while the guardians of the Constitution remain mute spectators.
The hitherto unknown group, identified by the police as the “Rama Rajyam Army”, “proclaimed themselves as the descendants of the Ikshvaku dynasty (ancestral line of Lord Rama) and want to form Rama Rajyam by creating private armies and punishing people who reject their mission and agenda”, according to Rangarajan’s father Dr M.V. Soundararajan, convenor of the Temples Protection Movement.
BRS working president KTR also upstaged BJP leaders by visiting the priest at the temple and extending his support. The former minister said in his X post that there was “not a word from the protectors of Hinduism on this act of cowardice.”
ధర్మరక్షకులు దాడులు చేస్తారు…
రాజ్యాంగ రక్షకులు చూస్తూ కూర్చుంటారు 👏🏼
Chilkur temple chief priest and a great scholar Shri Rangarajan garu was attacked two days ago by fringe elements.
Not a word from the protectors of Hinduism on this act of cowardice
There are videos of the…
— KTR (@KTRBRS) February 10, 2025
Two hours after KTR’s post, Telangana BJP leader and Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Bandi Sanjay wrote on X that he had checked in on Rangarajan’s well-being over the phone Sunday itself. “Praying for his strength and assuring him of any support needed.”
Later, KTR rushed to the temple with his party leaders. “The attack on a devout priest, a renowned scholar like Rangarajan, is reflective of the deteriorating law and order in the state. The persons involved in this heinous act, whatever their agendas or affiliations, should be punished severely. The state should provide protection to the family,” KTR, who also met the elderly Soundararajan, told reporters there.
The physical attack on Rangarajan, a prominent Vedic scholar and a proponent of freeing temples from government control, at his residence adjacent to the temple, by one Veera Raghava Reddy and his accomplices Friday, has caused an uproar in the state.
The matter came to light Sunday, with a press statement issued by Soundararajan saying “his son was seriously manhandled as he declined to associate with them” and refused to subscribe to or support their agenda and actions.
“The assailants have not understood the concept of constitutional ‘Ram Rajya’ that we ardently advocate,” said Soundararajan.
A short video of men and some women clad in black robes entering Rangarajan’s residence and Reddy manhandling the priest went viral on social media Sunday. Rangarajan was seen squatting helplessly as the violent and abusive mob surrounded him.
Rangarajan is often in the news for various activities, such as carrying a Dalit man on his shoulders into a temple, donating an ox to a poor Muslim farming family, and, just a few days ago, attending a Sufi event.
“I don’t know what provoked them to barge into my home and assault me. Their intention seems to be extorting money and other resources from me,” Rangarajan told ThePrint.
Rangarajan filed a complaint Saturday at Moinabad Police Station, which falls under the Cyberabad commissionerate limits.
In his complaint, Rangarajan said Reddy claimed he was an incarnation of Mukkanti (Lord Shiva). “Even as I tried to reason with him, he rained strong blows on me, disallowing me to speak, while his accomplices recorded the episode on their mobile phones. Threatening me with dire consequences, Reddy asked me to recruit people for his army and also to support his causes monetarily.”
Even as KTR accused the Revanth Reddy government and Telangana Police of inaction, Moinabad inspector Pavan Kumar Reddy confirmed Monday the arrest of Veera Raghava Reddy and five others, including two women, while a search is ongoing for another 20-odd associates.
“Veera Raghava states that the formation of Ram Rajya is his life’s commitment and that he is taking the law into his own hands for this purpose,” the police official told ThePrint.
A statement issued later in the evening by Ch. Srinivas, DCP, Rajendranagar Zone said all the accused had been identified and that the founder of the Sri Rama Rajyam organisation and main accused, Kovvuri Veera Raghava Reddy, 45, was arrested Saturday and remanded in judicial custody.
Reddy, hailing from Anaparthi in East Godavari District, Andhra Pradesh is a resident of Manikonda.
The accused Reddy started the “Rama Rajyam” movement in 2022 on social media platforms, including Facebook, and also operated a YouTube channel. He posted Bhagavad Gita shlokas and motivated people to join his army “to protect Hindu Dharma.”
Reddy had announced that individuals registering between 1 September and 31 December 2024 would be recruited into the “Rama Rajyam Army” with a salary of Rs 20,000.
In response to this post, 25 members first met Reddy on 24 January 2025 at Tanuku, Andhra Pradesh, according to police.
After a four-day stay, they travelled to Kotappakonda, a Shaivite pilgrimage centre in Andhra Pradesh, where they contributed Rs 2,000 each and had uniforms stitched by a local tailor. On 6 February, upon receiving the uniforms, they gathered at a house in Yapral, Hyderabad, and took photos and videos with the organisation’s backdrop. On Friday, they went to Chilkur in three vehicles and committed the alleged crime.
The Visa Balaji temple rose to prominence in the early 2000s following the IT boom, becoming famous for its “visa-granting powers”.
Scores of Telugu techies seeking jobs abroad and students aspiring to study in the United States perform 18 pradakshinas (circumambulations) around the sanctum, wishing for a speedy visa approval. When their wish is fulfilled, they revisit the temple to perform 108 pradakshinas in gratitude before taking their flight to the US.
Given that Telugus have been keen about emigrating to the US, a US Consulate was opened in Hyderabad in 2008.
The temple management, which is the father-son duo, has been resisting the state government’s takeover of the shrine, securing court orders.
Also, the temple has no hundi (donation box), a common feature in many other Hindu religious sites.
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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The Gongura boys would stoop to any level to get a US visa.
The Ram Rajyam hooligans actually did a service to society by roughing up that idiot priest.