The Lurdu Matha Church in Telangana's Warangal district witnessed a heavy influx of devotees this week, after news of 'blood' oozing from the eyes of a Mother Mary statue, spread like wildfire.
Hundreds were reported to have thronged to the place of worship in the Gunturpally area, and the local media soon followed suit.
According to reports, a local pastor had found the 'tears of blood', oozing from the statue last week.
He then brought the issue to the notice of the local bishop, who declared that the incident occurred due to Mother Mary's 'dissatisfaction', after seeing the present state of world affairs.
The Bishop reportedly claimed that a lack of love and growing hatred in society, was the reason that Mother Mary 'felt sad'.
Following the incident, the church offered special prayers as part of a ceremony, even as Christians from across the area began visiting the church, and offered collective prayers.
However, rationalist organisations like the Jana Vignana Vedika (JVV) have spoken up against the incident, and said that it was nothing but fooling people, in the name of false beliefs.
Speaking to The News Minute, Subba Rao from the JVV criticised the people who were spreading such rumours.
"The so-called blood samples must be taken to lab for a blood test, which will prove if it is human blood or an animal's blood," he said.
He also questioned the credibility of such claims and asked, "which school of Christianity preaches such irrational content?"
"It is hilarious that they make such an effort to promote their views, in an outright foolish manner. It is very likely that someone may have done it to get attention," he added.
Subba Rao also appealed to people, not to fall for such unscientific and irrational claims, "which can't solve anyone's individual problems or social problems."
JVV, which is present in the Telugu states of Telangana and Andhra, has also been leading the movement, against the annual 'fish prasadam' distributed by the Bathini Goud family in Hyderabad.
The Goud family has been distributing the 'miraculous' fish prasadam, which supposedly cures asthma, since 1845, and has claimed that the 172-year-old recipe is based on the "the wisdom of the sacred sages of ancient India."
After JVV moved court, the family could no longer legally call it 'fish medicine', and had to market it as 'prasadam'.