The Laddu Politics

The Supreme Court of India on 30th September 2024, heard a case against Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, a case which has shaken the Hindu community of this country over the last few days. The case is based on an allegation that animal fat was mixed into the famous Tirupati laddus made in the offering to devotees as part of a conspiracy. It questioned why Naidu presented unproven allegations in public if it concerns the faith of millions, potentially hurting their sentiments, especially since no evidence has been provided to support the claims that animal fat was indeed used in the laddus. The court admonished Naidu's government for delaying publication of the report on adulteration, prepared from July till September, even without any concrete evidence.

Does faith dominate or is it political maneuvering? If adulteration was found in the lab reports, then what is the confusion, and why is there denial? Why did Naidu go to the press in September without evidence?

Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam, housing Lord Venkateswara Swamy, is one of the most visited and richest religious centers in the world. As it is a tradition, devotees will give laddus as an offering and are given a smaller laddu. Approximately 3 lakh laddus are made, which is an almost 300-year-old tradition.

The Chief Minister accused Y.S.R. Congress Party of hurting Hindu sentiment by mixing animal fat with the sacred offering. This issue snowballed into the controversy, with Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan demanding a sanatan dharma protection court. Mr. Kalyan arounds an 11-day penance for the redemption of this 'grave mistake.' The former Chief Minister accused his successor of exploiting people's sentiments for political gains. Former BJP MP Subrahmanyaswami moved the Supreme Court demanding a court-monitored investigation.

Samples of a few batches of ghee were tested in the first week of July 2024 by the Water and Food Analysis Laboratory of TTD. Four samples were found to have a deficiency, for which samples were sent to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB), Anand, Gujarat. The report from NDDB came on July 23, which itself showed adulteration in the samples of ghee which TTD had sent.

In this controversy, the term is "S-value," which measures pure milk fat content in ghee; acceptable ranges are between 98.05 to 104.3. The S-values were reported as ranging from 19.17 to 117.42 for the samples tested. Therefore, this deviation says that they were not pure milk fat, though they may contain soybean or palm oil along with potential beef or pork fat contamination; however, that was not proved.

Mr. Naidu released the lab report on September 18, giving credence to the argument that it was to gain political mileage for the upcoming polls in Maharashtra and Haryana, which are facing anti-incumbency.

AR Dairy bagged a tender at an unusually low rate of ₹320 per kg, a price considered too low for unadulterated ghee. In essence, Naidu was implying there might be fraudulent activities happening under the cloak of religious offerings.

Jagan, who is a Christian by faith, has faced allegations of promoting conversion under his watch.

Pawan Kalyan took this further by stating, if such incidents keep happening involving Muslims or Christians, then there will be a widespread outcry among the Hindus, who should not remain silent now. This issue snowballed into a national-level debate over the freeing of the temples from government control and alleged conspiracies of Christian conversion and Muslim influence. Denying the allegations made by Naidu, on September 20, Jagan addressed a press conference and said that, "Both the governments have been maintaining the board of TTD consistently ever since, the batch-wise internal inspections are done, and NABL certifications are compulsory."

Jagan also added that TTD had rejected a few batches earlier between 2014-2019 and again from 2019-2024 for the same reasons. Whereas on 23rd July, NDDB presented its findings to TTD, whereas on 24th July, an officer of the NDA government, who was appointed, said that initially there was adulteration only of vegetable fat when allegations of animal fat appear with no scientific proof. Included officials provided a defense suggesting that TTD lacks the scientific proficiency to analyze S-values correctly, and hence deciphering reports can take time, leading to confusion where animal fat allegations did emerge amidst political turmoil.

However, experts opined that the samples sent earlier could explain these samples in no time if they were sent out for testing. Jagan's side questioned why no action was taken against A.R. Dairy if this issue was known back in July when it first arose.

Y.S.R.C.P raised another pertinent question: whether the ghee was adulterated because the rejected samples allegedly had traces of beef and pork fat. The TTD official confirmed that the adulterated samples were sent for further testing.

Meanwhile, ace actor Prakash Raj dared his colleague Pawan Kalyan to prove the allegations of the presence of animal fat and, if so, whether culprits will be brought to book.

The political character of such statements raises the question of exploiting religious sentiment for political advantage rather than dealing with the real issues at stake. This whole affair seems to be very high on hardcore politics rather than on authentic religious concerns or the Hindu faith itself.