Udupi Pejawar Mutt Seer and Trustee of Sri Ram Janm Bhoomi Teerth Kshetra Trust Sri Vishwa Prasanna Tirtha Swami on Saturday urged Union Home Minister Amit Shah to intervene in the alleged desecration of Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh as the State government was not taking any decisive action to bring the culprits to book.
He wrote the letter after visiting ancient Sita Lakshmana Kodandarama Temple on the Bodikonda Hillock in Ramatheertham of Vizianagaram district where the Rama idol was recently desecrated. Miscreants’ action of breaking open the historical temple and desecrating the 400-year-old idol has enraged the Hindu community. The severed portion of the idol was later retrieved from the nearby temple pond, the seer said.
The incident took place about 20 days ago, but the Andhra Pradesh government has done little to apprehend the miscreants and its indifference was quite evident.
Sri Vishwa Prasanna further said the attack on the Ramatheertham temple was not a stray incident. Andhra Pradesh has been witnessing a series spiteful incidents of temple vandalism for one-and-a-half-years now. The gutting of temple chariots at Bitragunta (Nellore) in February, Antarvedi (East Godavari) in September, and desecration of several Hindu idols at Pithapuram in January were some of the prominent malicious acts reported recently. As many as 120 attacks have taken place in the last one-and-a-half years, which appear to be premeditated ones, he said.
He said miscreants were resorting to the evil acts because of inaction of the State government as no serious action was taken to apprehend people behind such barbaric acts of temple vandalism. The government was unresponsive to the call and appeal of the Hindu community to protect the temples.
Such attacks were sensitive issues affecting the whole Hindu community. Since the State government has not acted, intervention of the Union Home Ministry was essential, the swami said.