Church vs Hindutva in AP

 

The past year we have seen  damage to about 140 temples and now illegal construction of a Church on top of  a hill lock in Edlapadu in Guntur Dt. The adjacent hillock which is a continuous formation has the ancient Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy deity which is revered by crores of people. The evangelists have brazenly occupied the hillock and raised a huge steel cross. The government seems to ignore this land encroachment and is letting the thing die down by itself. They are quiet aware that despite the huge cry by the opposition nothing came out of their temple protection agitation. Even TTD is not being spared with arbitrary actions and controversial decisions being taken in running the temple. The latest from TTD is leasing out Marriage halls to private parties. We have to wait and see who is benefitting through this action.

Opposition lacks Credibility 

The TDP which was in power is guilty of destroying 30 odd temples in Vijayawada town during construction of the Kanakadurgamma flyover. They promised to rebuild the temples but they never did. The BJP which was its partner also has to take the blame for not insisting on re-construction. YSRCP knows TDP has no credibility on Hindutva issues and BJP is not a big force in the state.

The Government cares less

Evangelists and the church have been on an overdrive since the current dispensation of Jagan Mohan Reddy has come to power in AP about 2 years ago. CM Jagan knows he has come to power due to the block voting of minorities for his party hence as soon he came to power announced monthly payouts to Pastors and Ulemas. The AP Govt also has called for tenders to build churches at various places. As an external indicator he has also surrounded himself with practicing Christians in important roles. Eg: Home Minister, DGP etc. It can be a coincidence but will leave it to you. The CM is cautious about getting embroiled in any of these controversies and rarely speaks on these issues. He is aware he has a built a great relationship with Delhi and he can tied over these issues blaming some one else.

Inaction from Hindutva forces

Surprisingly AP police could not find any of the culprits who were involved in damaging temples. Instead they arrested some opposition cadres blaming them. Clearly the govt is taking advantage of dis-unity among Hindus to paper over the issues. Unlike Telangana where there is a under current of Hindutva which can be tapped, AP lacks it due to deep caste fissures and stronger evangelical forces. A group of peetadhipatis met and apparently discussed the temples issue but nothing came out. Whatever action we have seen on temples is from smaller Hindu organizations and heads of one or two smaller peetas but not strong enough to be taken note off. Imagine 140 temples being attacked in Telangana the response would have been different.

Jagan is aware that his welfare state is doing great and as long as people are getting the doles they would not be worried too much about these issues. By capturing the minority vote and the substantial BC vote behind him he is sitting pretty. To shake him up needs a concerted effort by all Hindutva forces to rally together and push him to act.