vhp-apex-body-calls-meeting-to-discuss-temple-control-issue

The controversy surrounding Tirupati laddus and the demand for "freeing" temples across the country from government control are among the key issues to be discussed at a meeting of the VHP's apex body in Andhra Pradesh on Monday.

The day-long meeting of the Vishva Hindu Parishad's (VHP) Kendriya Margdarshak Mandal, to be held in Tirupati city, will also discuss the issue of religious conversion, a senior functionary of the organisation said on Sunday.

The meeting will be attended by Hindu seers from Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and other southern states, he told the media.

VHP national secretary general Bajrang Bagda and other senior functionaries will be present at the meeting, he added.

Bagda said, "The day-long meeting will discuss the present challenges before Hindu society and the ways to resolve them." The meeting is also expected to discuss the issue of "desecration" of the laddu served in the Tirupati Balaji temple, which is causing "great distress" to Hindu society, and take a decision on the VHP's future course of action, he added.

A resolution on this issue may also be passed at the meeting, Bagda said.

A senior VHP functionary said the meeting was also likely to deliberate at length the issue of "freeing temples from government control" and work out a plan to resolve it.

More than four lakh temples are currently under government control across the country, he claimed. "The VHP has been demanding for long that management and control over all these temples be handed over to Hindu society." The meeting will also discuss the issue of religious conversion and work out a plan to address it, the functionary said.

The VHP on Friday termed as "intolerable" the alleged use of animal fat in the Tirupati laddu and demanded that the Andhra Pradesh government hand over control and management of the temple to Hindu society.

Bagda had earlier demanded legal action against those involved in "desecrating" the Tirupati prasadam.

"The Tirupati incident further strengthens the Vishva Hindu Parishad's belief that government control over temples leads to entry of politics. Due to the appointment of non-Hindu officials there (temples under government control), such impurities are deliberately introduced into the prasad (consecrated food)," he had said in a video statement.