Even as the YSR Congress-led government is facing a tremendous amount of criticism for failing to stop the continued attacks on temples and Hindu deities in Andhra Pradesh, Rajya Sabha MP Subramanian Swamy has come to the rescue of Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy claiming that the attacks are a conspiracy to target the state government.
Speaking to a local media channel regarding the ongoing attacks on temples in the state, BJP leader Subramanian Swamy defended the YSR Congress government and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy saying that the temple attacks are nothing but a conspiracy to target the government. He also called Hindus ’emotional’ and manipulative’ for expressing their anger over temple attacks.
Blaming Hindus for voicing their anger against temple vandalism in the state, BJP MP Subramanian Swamy said, “Our people are emotional and being manipulated, they scream because he (Jagan Mohan Reddy) is Christian…He does a pooja at Tirupati at 2AM in the morning but does not publicise it”.
The Rajya Sabha MP also said that the temple attacks are a conspiracy hatched by TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu to return back to the limelight in Andhra Pradesh politics. He said that the TDP leader was maligning the Chief Minister by making politically motivated statements and with an intention to brand the YSRCP government as a Christian government.
Subramanian Swamy said that since Chandrababu lost elections he was trying to use Hindutva as an agenda to come back to power in the next elections.
Swamy also said that the TDP was making false propaganda that the YSRCP government was employing people from other religions. ‘That is false’, he said, adding that there were only seven people from other religions who were appointed during the previous TDP government.
During the interview, the MP appreciated YS Jagan Mohan Reddy for allowing the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) to audit the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) accounts showing transparency.
Subba Reddy and his wife are more Hindu than PM Modi: Swamy
He also said that the TTD Chairman YV Subba Reddy, who is the uncle of CM YS Jagan Reddy was more Hindu than Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself.
Accusing social media users of carrying out a targeted campaign against the YSR Congress government, Swamy said that Hindutva does not mean that everybody has to fall in line with the ‘crazy concept’ of Hindutva that they believe in. In the end, Swamy said that they cannot allow such kind of ‘religious fanaticism’ that is taking place in the name of Hindutva.
It is interesting to note his new statements, because just months back, Swamy had himself called Jagan Reddy a ‘Chritsian CM’.
Swamy’s strong attack on Hindu groups and defence of YSR Congress government comes at the backdrop of a series of attacks on Hindu temples being carried out in the state. Within less than a week, more than five temples have been vandalised, idols have been desecrated leading to a massive uproar in the state. However, Swamy, who positions himself to be the savior of Hindus, is now trying to defend the government that has not only failed to act against the culprits but also failed to stop the continued attacks on temples.
A series of temple attacks in Andhra Pradesh
Several attacks on Hindu temples have been reported in the state in the last few months.
On December 30, in another case of temple vandalization in Andhra Pradesh, the miscreants had targeted the famous Ramatheertham in Vizianagaram district and desecrated the 400-year-old idol of Bhagwan Ram. The priest had found that the idol of Bhagwan Ram was desecrated by unknown assailants when he reached the ancient Sita Lakshmana Kodandarama temple on the Bodikonda hillock in Ramatheertham. The idol was ‘beheaded’ and broken to pieces, the pieces were thrown into a nearby pond.
Just a few days after Ramatheertham incident, the idol of Goddess Sita was found vandalised near Pandit Nehru bus stop in the Sitaram Temple in Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday. The incident came to light days after idols of Lord Subrahmanya and Shri Ram were similarly found damaged in the state.
On January 1, a Lord Subrahmanya murti in Lord Vigneshwara temple was found desecrated in Rajahmundry district. The priest of the Vigneshwara temple found the murti of Lord Subrahmanya desecrated with two severed limbs of the murti lying on the ground.