The Sri Venkateswara temple at Tirumala in Andhra Pradesh is the holiest of holy shrines for a vast number of Hindus. And almost as famous as Lord Balaji, as the resident deity is popularly known, is the temple prasad, the 'Tirupati laddoo'. Legend has it that one of the earliest forms of the prasad was documented way back in 1715. Today, so coveted is the sweet offering that the temple produces some 300,000 daily, contributing Rs 500 crore to the annual kitty of the world's richest Hindu shrine.
Rice, chickpea flour, cashew, cardamom, raisins, sugar candy and 'pure cow's ghee...these are some of the 10-odd ingredients used to make the laddoo. But it's the last mentioned item that has now created a huge controversy. On September 18, Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu alleged that the ghee used to prepare the Tirupati laddoo prasadam during his predecessor Jagan Mohan Reddy's time had traces of "animal fat" in it.
All hell broke loose soon after, with other political parties, including allies of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in the state-the Jana Sena Party (JSP) and the BJP-joining the chorus to accuse the previous Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) government of negligence. Jagan hit back, calling the allegations "malicious", and castigating Naidu for insinuating that his Christian faith was somehow linked to the alleged wrongdoings at the temple.
THE SUPREME INTERVENTION
Bu hikaye India Today dergisinin 14th October, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye India Today dergisinin 14th October, 2024 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
THE ATM THAT EMPOWERS
Kokilaben Patel has seen Kalpesh Patel operate the micro ATM many times but she's still fascinated by the steps that leads to him handing her Rs 3,000.
AMARAVATI RISES AGAIN
In October 2015, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for the greenfield Andhra Pradesh capital project, Amaravati.
A MAHA KUMBH CHALLENGE
The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh, which came in for praise for the 2019 Kumbh arrangements in Prayagraj, is looking for a repeat with the once-in-12-years Maha Kumbh starting on January 13, 2025.
BABUS' FALL FROM GRACE
Bureaucrats in public spats are not a new phenomenon in Kerala, but this is the first time two IAS officers have been suspended for violating the Civil Service Code of Conduct. N. Prasanth, an IAS officer of the 2007 batch and special secretary to the agriculture department, was suspended for his public comments against A. Jayathilak, the additional chief secretary (ACS) for finance, on social media.
KARNATAKA: Furore Over Waqf Land
In the heat and dust of the assembly bypolls that concluded on November 13 in Karnataka, the state’s Congress government found itself grappling with a thorny issue that has snowballed into a controversy with nationwide ramifications. Hence it came to be that, amid the shrill election campaigns for the Channapatna, Shiggaon and Sandur assembly seats, the event that garnered national attention was the November 7 visit to Karnataka by a parliamentarian from Uttar Pradesh, Jagdambika Pal. Famous as the “one-day chief minister of UP”, the BJP’s Domariyaganj MP chairs the 21-member joint parliamentary committee (JPC) examining the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill, 2024, introduced in the Lok Sabha this August.
BIREN IN TAPE TROUBLE
In a significant legal and political development, the Supreme Court has agreed to examine audio recordings that allegedly implicate Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh in the violent ethnic conflict between the Meitei and Kuki communities that erupted in the northeastern state in May last year.
Sporting Q+A Fella
IN NETFLIX’S VIJAY 69, ANUPAM KHER PLAYS A 69-YEAR-OLD WHO DECIDES TO COMPETE IN A TRIATHLON. THE ACTOR TALKS ABOUT WHY HE CONTINUES TO CHALLENGE HIMSELF
Museum Under the Sky
Photographer Ahtushi Deshpande's passion project, Speaking Stones documents the threatened rock art of Ladakh
Reclaiming Our Archives
Sumana Roy contests the negative connotations regarding provincials in this thought-provoking book
TRAVEL AND ITS DISCONTENTS
Shahnaz Habib's Airplane Mode is asensitive dive into the complex and contentious activity that modern-day travel has devolved into
