Tirupati: The proselytise menace has raised its ugly head at Tirumala yet again the holy abode of Lord Venkateswara as an ‘Evangelism at Tirumala,’ a video footage went viral on Wednesday. A video footage named ‘Christian Missionaries active in Tirumala and also converting kids’ sent shockwaves not only among millions of devotees of Lord Venkateswara, worldwide, but also the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams which administers the Tirumala temple, considered the most sacred pilgrim centre of Hindu worship in the world.
The video shows a person who introduces himself as Sudhir Mondithoka, along with his four friends, Sukumar Bhaskar, Joseph and one more person. In the video, Sudhir Mondithoka and four of his other men, travelling in an private vehicle, stops at the Alipiri tollgate where Sudhir is seen training his men on ‘Evangelism’. And en route to the Tirumala hills, the vehicle stop by at a place where Sudhir Mondithoka is again seen resorting to acts of proselytism.
Later, Sudhir Mondithoka is seen standing in front of the Tirumala temple, where he again preaches Christianity and calls the idol of Lord Venkateswara as a false idol.
Pilgrims are seen moving around him even as Sudhir Mondithoka continued his ‘propagation’.
Later the video shows Sudhir Mondithoka saying he successfully 'freed' the mind of one Tirupaalu, from Nellore district, from his illusions on Lord Venkateswara and the Tirumala temple.
While the video shows Sudhir Mondithoka moving around freely, around the Akhilandam, in front of the Tirumala temple, none of his other men are seen and the video concludes saying the team is leaving Tirumala.
Even as this video went viral in the internet and the electronic media causing extreme anguish among millions of devotees of Lord Venkateswara across the globe, pastor Sudhir Mondithoka, who is responsible for the episode and who hails from Hyderabad justified his acts during his interaction with the media and said he did nothing wrong. The pastor, who mentioned the 'secular' cops and the vigilance wing sleuths helped him reach Tirumala without any difficulty, also reiterated on Wednesday that none of the security officials told him his deeds were prohibited at Tirumala.
