Saiswaroopa Iyer, a Bangalore-based academic and author, took to X – that used to be Twitter before Elon Musk took over the social medium – on Thursday night to complain about Tirupati laddoos and how her “amma” had sensed something was wrong with the consecrated sweet offered as prasadam to devotees at the Sri Venkateswara Temple.
Turns out, her amma was not the only amma complaining about the Tirupati laddoos for the last two-three years.
The laddoos controversy erupted after Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu pointed fingers at his predecessor YSRCP government for allegedly allowing substandard ingredients and animal fat in the making of the sweet at the temple in Tirupati.
“Since 2-3 years, Amma used to fall sick if she tasted Tirupati Laddu and used to tell us not to eat too much of it. We put it on her general paranoia as she has a hundred complaints about hyegine everywhere. Now I feel a part of her sensed something terribly wrong with the Laddu,” the author-academic Iyer wrote on her X handle.
An hour later she called for an “unapologetically Hindu Government and state”.
“Lost trust on the secular state. It is not about any party now. It is the system that needs change,” she posted.
Another ‘X’ user who goes by the handle Simply_Krishna also referred to his amma’s complaint on the Tirupati Laddoos. A car mechanic and retired software engineer who goes by the name Muthu had a similar complaint.
Simply_Krishna’s profile reveals little about the person, except that some of his tweets are against the incumbent government at the Centre and the Hindutva ecosystem.
The Tirupati laddoo seems to have brought the two polar opposites in India’s politics on the same page. Also hygiene was misspelled the same way in all the posts. Another user with the handle “pillaparindey”, who introduced himself as a “mallu in Telugu land” also affirmed his Amma’s complaints on account of “hyegine” of the Tirupati laddoos.
On Thursday, TDP spokesperson Anam Venkata Ramana Reddy in a press event displayed a purported lab report that apparently confirmed the presence of "beef tallow" in the given ghee samples, which were tested in a laboratory based in Gujarat’s Anand. The laboratory CALF (Centre for Analysis and learning in Livestock & Food) is a multidisciplinary analytical laboratory at the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB).
The purported lab report also claimed the presence of "lard" (relating to pig fat) and fish oil in the samples. The sample receipt date was July 9, 2024 and the lab report was dated July 16.
As the controversy continues to grow hashtags like #AmmaFellSick #AmmaFellSick2to3Years trended for some time on X.
Actor and deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh Pawan Kalyan called for a national level “Sanatana Dharma Rakshana Board” to “look into all the issues related to temples" across the country.
“We are all deeply disturbed with the findings of animal fat (fish oil, pork fat and beef fat) mixed in Tirupathi Balaji Prasad. Many questions to be answered by the TTD board constituted by YCP Govt then. Our Govt is committed to take stringent action possible,” the deputy chief minister wrote on his X handle.
“But, this throws light on many issues surrounding desecration of temples, its land issues and other dharmic practices. May be the time has come to constitute a ‘Sanatana Dharma Rakshana Board’ at a National level to look into all the issues related to temples in entire Bharath. A debate has to happen at a National level by all the policy makers, religious heads, judiciary, citizens, media and all others in their respective domains. I think we all should come together to put an end to desecration of ‘Sanathana Dharma’ in any form,” he added.
The former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has denied the charges of contamination of the ingredients of the Tirupati laddoo.
Clearly, the sweet has left a bitter feeling in many with ammas who sensed something was wrong.
