January 22, 2025

Were The Tirupati Laddoos Actually Made From Contaminated Ghee?

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2024-10-01 07:00:09

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Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator.

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No Evidence, Lab Report Not Clear

The Supreme Court has punctured the confidence of Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu. It has questioned his move to make the issue of contaminated ghee used in the prasadam distributed at Tirupati Devasthan public when there was no concrete proof. The apex court said that the July 2024 lab report, which formed the basis of Naidu's allegations, was not clear as there were several disclaimers in it. The court also found no prima facie evidence that the ghee that was tested, and was found contaminated, was the same that was used in making the prasadam. The court pointedly noted that the prasadam was not sent for testing. The court said that since the state had ordered a probe, there was no need to go to the press. It also said that it would decide whether the probe should be transferred to an independent agency.

Politics Over Laddoos

The observations made by the Supreme Court after examining the evidence placed on record clearly show that there was an attempt to politicise the matter in a tearing hurry. In fact, the court was constrained to say "we expect gods to be kept away from politics". But the TDP has not backtracked. P Ram Kommareddy, a senior TDP leader said that the party stands by what chief minister Naidu had said and it is 100% sure that the contaminated ghee was used in making the laddoos. If that is true, then why couldn't the state produce evidence of the same when repeatedly asked by the apex court bench? YSRCP, on the other hand, said that the remarks by the court proved that it was a "heinous" publicity attempt by the state government which had hurt the sentiments of crores of devotees.