Pontiffs urge govt to return Hindu shrines to devotees

Mangaluru: Pejawar Mutt pontiff Sri Vishwaprasanna Tirtha Swami, lashing out over the Tirupati laddu controversy, said that religious shrines should be managed by Hindu institutions, not govts.In a video message, the pontiff said that the Tirupati incident has strengthened the Supreme Court's observation regarding the management of Hindu religious shrines, which should be under Hindu religious institutions. "Without any delay, the religious shrine should be handed over to a Hindu religious institution," the pontiff said."I feel deeply regretted over the news of adulterated animal fat allegedly used, instead of cow ghee, in the making of laddus served as prasadam at Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh. It is the biggest offence against society and God that fish oil, fat of pigs and cows are used to prepare prasadam. It is highly condemnable that a state govt was behind such an offence," he said.Stating that devotees consider Tirupati Venkatesha as the protector of cows, the seer said, "Offering prasadam made of cow fat to the protector of cows is a deliberately cruel offence."Calling the development an assault on Hindu religious sentiments, the pontiff said that it is the responsibility of the govt to find the culprits who prepared adulterated prasadam and punish them severely.Udupi Paryaya seer, Seer Sri Sugunendra Tirtha Swami of Puthige Mutt, said, "We are very much moved to hear the episode of Tirupati laddu. It is a serious matter and we need to find a permanent solution to this problem. The basic problem is that the govt is controlling all Hindu temples. Due to political interventions, those temples are not following traditions and heritage matters. We think temples and mutts should be separated from the govt's control."He said the intervention of the govt has been polluting Hindu temples. "The govt should immediately release all Hindu temples and mutts from its control," he added.VHP demands CBI probeVishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) district president HK Purushotham, condemning the use of animal fat in Tirupati laddu, said that the incident has hurt the religious sentiments of crores of Hindus.He said that a CBI inquiry needs to be ordered into the Tirupati laddu episode. "Every individual involved in the incident should be punished severely," he added.