KURNOOL: A priest on Saturday alleged that the Marlabandaiah Anjaneya Swamy temple near Sajjala Guddam village in Kosigi mandal had been vandalised and an idol desecrated. Hours later, he denied that such a thing had happened, albeit a bit too late as by then opposition activists had staged protests claiming that the government was not safeguarding temples.
The priest Sriramulu in a video released in the morning alleged that when he opened the temple doors at 9 am to perform Abhisekham, he noticed that the leg of the idol of Sita Rama on the temple arch had been broken, He said the grill of the temple had been cut open and the temple car was smashed and an attempt had been made to break the lock of the shed.
“The incident happened on Friday and I don't know who has done this,” the priest said.
The video caused tension in the backdrop of a series of incidents of temple vandalism. However, Sriramulu released another video in the afternoon claiming that the idol had been damaged when lighting was being fixed during the recent rathotsavam. The temple car had not sustained any damage. The idol of the temple is safe, he said. The hundi had been lost in the past. He appealed to people not to believe any rumours, he claimed.
The top brass of the police swung into action. Kurnool Range DIG P. Venkatram Reddy told the media that the news of vandalism of the temple located in agricultural fields near Sajjla Guddam village was false. Police officials and the temple priest examined the premises and certified that there was no vandalism.
The DIG reminded how swiftly the police had acted in Kurnool when incidents of hundi theft and vandalism of idols had occurred, and had arrested several persons.
“You all know this. It is not right to spread false news and throw people into confusion,” he told the media and said it was not good to politicise every issue.
Meanwhile, BJP and TD activists protested in front of the collectorate and other places. Raising slogans against Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy at the Kurnool collectorate, BJP state vice-president K. Harish Babu said that there was no protection for temples even though more than 40 had been attacked during the YSRC government regime. He wondered why the Chief Minister was silent on this issue.
Similarly, addressing a protest organised by TD activists at Visweswaraiah circle in the city, Kurnool unit president Somisetty Venkateswarlu demanded the immediate sacking of Endowment minister Vellampalli Srinivas. He said that Jagan Mohan Reddy should act in a secular manner and respect the religious sentiments of Hindus.
