K. Laxman, the President of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Telangana, on the 6th of September, demanded an apology from K. Chandrashekar Rao (KCR,) the Chief Minister of Telangana.
Mr. Laxman criticised KCR as the latter’s face and the symbol of his Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) were carved on the pillars of the religious temple of Sri Lakshmi Narasimha Swamy Temple in Yadadri.
K. Laxman said, “He (KCR) might be thinking that he can get away with whatever he does. But the god fearing and devote people of Telangana would not tolerate the anti Hindu actions of him (sic.)” He further condemned the action as a war against the Hindu society.
Laxman further said, “KCR and TRS alone will be wholly responsible if any untoward incidents take place following these developments.”
However, the temple authorities denied the involvement of the TRS Government in the matter. They said, “There are 3,000 such designs and carving Rao’s image or Government schemes were not part of the plan. There were no such order from the Government and we’ve not asked the sculptors to do it. They must have done it out of respect for the leaders and there’s nothing wrong in it. We do give the sculptor the freedom to carve some of his own designs.”
Anand Sai, the architect of the Yadadri temple, said the carvings were not made on the directions of the State Government, but are for the future generations to know the history.
The issue became a political one after the BJP unit in Telangana deemed the action as an insult to the Hindus.
Apart from the BJP, N. Subhas, a leader of a local party, the Bajrang Dal, said, “This is a holy place. KCR is not a god. Why should his image or government schemes be carved on the temple’s pillars? There is no place for politics in a temple, and if someone tries to do it, we know how to tackle it.”
Despite the criticism, the temple authorities refused to remove the carvings and said the carvings are for future generations and will not be removed.
Later, the BJP asked the KCR led TRS to remove the carvings on the pillar and demanded an apology from KCR for the same.
KCR did not respond to the criticism yet.
Stay tuned for further updates.
