Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Sept 20: Even as the YSR Congress Party leader and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy have rubbished the allegations of adulteration of the “prasadam” of the Tirupati temple, the Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda on Friday sought a full report on the issue of allegation of animal fat, beef tallow and fish oil, being used in preparing the laddus served to devotees in the famous temple.
Mr Nadda said the Government would further examine the matter and take suitable action. The Minister said he had spoken to the AP Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on the issue. “I got to know about the issue through social media. I spoke to Mr Chandrababu Naidu today and asked to send the entire report,” said the Minister while addressing a press conference on the first 100 days of the Modi government’s third term. The Minister noted that action would be taken as per the food safety standards.
The Central Government maintained that they were in touch with the state regulators on the matter with Union Food Minister Pralhad Joshi on Friday stating that he has called for an investigation into the allegations made by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister. “Whatever the Andhra Chief Minister has said is a matter of serious concern. A detailed enquiry is required, and the culprit should be punished,” he said on the sidelines of a global food regulators summit.
Earlier, Mr Naidu claimed that animal fat was used for making Tirupati laddus during the previous Jagan Mohan Reddy government, triggering a political row with the Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP), which accused the Chief Minister of indulging in “heinous allegations” for political gains.
In his first statement on the controversy on Friday, Mr Reddy said the claims were false and a diversionary tactic by the TDP. Senior YSR Congress leader and Rajya Sabha MP YV Subba Reddy, who was the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) chairman for four years, accused Mr Naidu of damaging the sanctity of the Tirumala shrine. “Chandrababu Naidu has severely damaged the sanctity of Tirumala and the faith of crores of Hindus. His comments about the Tirumala prasad are extremely malicious. No person would speak such words or make such accusations,” Mr Reddy had said. “It has been proven again that Chandrababu Naidu will stoop to any level for political gain. To strengthen the faith of the devotees, I, along with my family, am ready to take an oath before the almighty regarding the Tirumala ‘prasad’. Is Chandrababu Naidu willing to do the same with his family,” he asked.
Mr Naidu had alleged that the former government compromised the sanctity of the Sri Venkateswara Swamy temple in Tirupati by using substandard ingredients and animal fat in the preparation of laddus. Speaking on the issue, BJP MP GVL Narasimha Rao told reporters “This is not an issue of accusation but has been revealed from a test report. The faith of all the devotees has been hurt. We want action to be taken against those responsible for this,” he added.
In its first reaction to the laddu controversy, the Tirupati Temple Trust on Friday said it would soon take legal action in the case. The trust also said the samples of the prasad were adulterated. The TTD Executive Officer J. Shyamala Rao categorically said on Friday that the Tamil Nadu-based AR Dairy Food Private Limited, a key supplier of ghee to the temple, has been blacklisted after being found guilty of supplying highly adulterated ghee and asserted that criminal proceedings would follow if the company failed to provide a satisfactory explanation in response to the show cause notice issued.
Addressing a crowded press conference, which saw the attendance of several national media outlets, Mr Rao laid out details of the adulteration. Among the five suppliers contracted to provide ghee, AR Dairy was the sole deceiver, with their product found to contain dangerously high levels of foreign fat.
“The purity levels were also highly dejecting,” Mr Rao declared, revealing that the ‘S’ value of the ghee—a key indicator of quality—was a dismal 19.72, far below the required standard of 98.68 to 104.32. “The parameters in the laboratory report clearly show violations, the samples were highly adulterated,” the official said.
“The Lard (pig fat) content came up to 116. It should be below 102. Palm oil and beef tallow combined came to 23.2 because it was contaminated with various kinds of animal fats. Thus we immediately blacklisted them. Penalties will also be imposed and due legal process is also being followed,” he said.
The findings confirmed the ghee was far from fit for use in Prasadams. In an attempt to calm the growing fears over the sanctity of the sacred prasadams, Mr Rao detailed the timeline leading to this debacle. The tender for the supply of ghee was issued on March 12, finalised on May 8, and supply orders followed on May 15.
“For the first time in TTD’s history, the temple administration was forced to send ghee samples to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) in Gujarat for testing after complaints of poor laddu quality poured in,” he said. The results were damning: four out of ten tankers from AR Dairy were found to be highly adulterated, forcing the TTD to reject the shipments immediately.
Mr Rao further admitted that the absence of a sophisticated internal laboratory to test the adulteration had left the TTD vulnerable to such deceit and felt that no thought was attached by the previous board at the low supply price pegged at a meagre ₹320 per kilogram of ghee.
To avoid the repetition of such incidents in the future, TTD has decided to take drastic corrective measures. Plans are underway to set up an in-house sensory laboratory with the assistance of NDDB and also take the expertise of the experts of the Mysore-based Central Food Technology Institute (CFTRI) and get its staff properly trained.
The row over animal fat reached the Supreme Court on Friday with a lawyer filing a petition alleging that the act violated fundamental Hindu religious customs and deeply hurts the sentiments of countless devotees who consider the ‘prasad’ a sacred blessing. The petitioner has said the alleged presence of animal fat in the laddus is symptomatic of larger systemic issues in temple administration and has called for the sanctity of Hindu religious practices being protected.
In a letter petition sent to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, lawyer Satyam Singh has said the allegations on the prasad at the temple have hurt the sentiments of devotees and the alleged act of using animal fat in the laddus violates Article 25 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to freedom of religion, including the right to practice religious customs.
Highlighting several judgments of the Supreme Court that have emphasised the importance of protecting essential religious practices, the petition claims the Tirupati incident is symptomatic of larger systemic issues in temple administration and calls for dedicated and culturally sensitive management of temples. The lawyer who has sent the letter has also sought the protection of Hindu religious practices and ensuring proper management of sacred institutions, and urged the Supreme Court’s intervention in the matter.