Fact Check: Did Tirumala priest ask people not to donate money to temple?
Social media users are claiming that the Head Priest of Tirumala Tirupati Temple has urged devotees not to donate money to the Temple Hundis.
By Newsmeter Network Published on 29 April 2022 5:15 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Social media users are claiming that the Head Priest of Tirumala Tirupati Temple has urged devotees not to donate money to the Temple Hundis. The post claims that the Chief priest had accused Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy of misusing the Tirumala Temple income for the welfare of Christian and Muslim communities in the state.
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Fact Check
NewsMeter found the claim misleading.
The man seen in the photo is Ramana Deekshithulu, head priest of Tirumala Tirupati Temple. When we searched to check whether Ramana Deekshithulu had made any such statements, we found that he had spoken about the utilization of the Tirumala Temple Hundi income during an interview in March 2019.
While responding to a question about the utilization of Temple income, the then sacked Tirumala Temple Chief Priest Ramana Deekshithulu had alleged that the 95% of temple hundi income was being utilized by the government.
During the interview, Ramana Deekshithulu urged devotees to not donate money to Tirumala Temple hundi alleging that not even a single rupee from the income was being utilized for the lord Venkateshwara Swamy's Seva. Ramana Deekshithulu said, "I request all the devotees not to donate a single rupee in any temple hundi. Tirumala temple will get an income of about 2.5 to 3 crores every day but not even a single rupee was used for the Sri Vari Seva. All the commodities required for the lord's Seva are provided by donors. The temple Hundi income was utilized for the salaries of employees, for the Hindu Dharma Prachara Parishad, and also, for providing income for the engineering department and contractors. So, I urge all devotees to not donate money to temple hundi".
Further, Ramana Deekshithulu recommended devotees to participate in live Seva, to donate money to the low-income temples so, that can be utilized for the salaries of poor priests and the commodities required for the temple. Ramana Deekshithulu made these comments in March 2019, before the formation of the YSR Congress Party government in Andhra Pradesh.
Ramana Deekshithulu has made several allegations against the Tirumala Temple authorities before he got re-elected as the Tirumala Temple Head Priest in 2021, under the YS Jagan government in Andhra Pradesh.
Hence, the claim is misleading.
