Non-veg food at Vemulawada temple sparks outrage

Karimnagar:Distribution of non-vegetarian food packets to individuals within the premises of Sri Raja Rajeshwara Swamy temple in Vemulawada of Rajanna Sircilla district on Wednesday triggered a massive controversy.

Devotees and Hindus along with BJP leaders expressed anger after they found packets with ‘Happy Birthday’ and ‘Merry Christmas’ printed on them. They also found some packets having the names of the voluntary organisations.

Members of Hindu organisations claimed that these acts were carried out by non-Hindus and blamed the temple authorities for not addressing the issue as the distribution took place in high-traffic area of the temple. They criticised the staff for keeping quiet even after noticing that some members distributed non-vegetarian packets within the temple premises.

Meanwhile, a temple staff, on the condition of anonymity, told Deccan Chronicle that the staff thought some members of the voluntary organisations are distributing food packets to beggars outside the temple. How can they know what was present inside the packets? After noticing some people eat food on the temple premises, they asked them to go out. Later, they cleansed the area, he added.

The BJP’s Vemulawada president R. Santosh Babu said they did not find any higher official at the temple when they went to take the issue to their notice. Because of the negligence and lack of proper supervision of what is going on within and in the surroundings of the temple, such kinds of incidents take place. It is nothing but the act was done to spread Christianity in the shadow of Christmas Day celebrations, he alleged.

He said that a complaint was lodged with police to find out about the persons who orchestrated the distribution of non-vegetarian food packets specifically at the temple urging officials to take immediate action against them.