The opposition Telugu Desam Party (TDP) in Andhra Pradesh is staging week-long protests outside temples across the state, accusing the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government of being behind ‘attacks’ on Hindu temples. The protests are being staged in the backdrop of a fire accident at the Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy temple in Antarvedi, where an old chariot was gutted in the early hours of September 6.
It was the BJP and actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s Jana Sena Party (JSP), which began the protests. Joining the bandwagon, the TDP has also alleged that there is a conspiracy behind such “attacks" in Hindu places of worship.
Citing a few other incidents besides the chariot fire, TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu and his son and party General Secretary Nara Lokesh alleged that the YSRCP was trying to create a rift between religions.
TDP cadres have staged protests and conducted rituals in temples situated in East Godavari, Kurnool, Anantapur and Tirupati, alleging that the YSRCP government was behind the incidents.
Speaking to TNM, Kommareddy Pattabhi Ram, senior leader and TDP spokesperson, alleged that Hindu temples in Andhra Pradesh were being targeted and religious harmony in the state was being destroyed under the YSRCP.
"If the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government was so concerned about religious harmony and not hurting the sentiments of people following any religion, why has the Chief Minister not acted when a series of attacks have happened on temples?" he asked.
Pattabhi Ram said that the gutting of the chariot at Antarvedi was not the first and pointed out that idols had been damaged at Pithapuram earlier, while another chariot was gutted in Bitragunta in Nellore recently. Citing these, he alleged that the YSRCP was not seeing all religions equally.
On the other hand, the Andhra Pradesh government has agreed to a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the Antarvedi incident and has accused opposition parties of trying to communalise the issue.
A shift in TDP's politics?
Ahead of the Assembly and Lok Sabha elections in the state in 2019, the TDP had sought to project a secular image, with Chandrababu Naidu roping in the likes of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, former Jammu and Kashmir CM Farooq Abdullah and Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal to campaign for him, with several statements made by them against the BJP and its brand of politics.
But since Jagan’s election, the TDP is seeing a slow shift in its politics, lining up more with the BJP. When asked about if the party is raising the same issues as BJP in the state, TDP spokesperson Kommareddy Pattabhi Ram was quick to distance the two parties from each other.
“We never took up the cause of only one religion. We give equal importance to all religions. Our agenda is religious harmony," he said.
Observers however, disagree. Digumarthi Suresh Kumar, a professor and political commentator, told TNM, “With its aggressive push, the BJP is gaining mileage in the backdrop of the Antarvedi incident. It seems that the TDP also wants a share of this, and they are trying their best to draw political mileage in the state by talking about such incidents, as BJP's line is popular."
Telakapalli Ravi, another senior analyst, observed, "TDPs bids to compete with BJP Hindutva brand of politics would only favor the BJP and affect the state’s atmosphere. The TDP is unlikely to gain anything in the long run.”