Barely a few days passed that an idol of Lord Ram had been found desecrated by some unknown miscreants at Ramatheertham in Vizianagaram district, in Andhra Pradesh. This is not the first instance when such an incident has occurred where Hindu sentiments have been hurt. Recently there was another case when a temple priest of Vigneshwara temple found idol of Sri Lord Subrahmanya vandalised with two cut-off limbs of the idol lying at the base of the statue.
Also, 400-yea- old idol of Lord Ram was found beheaded by the temple priest in the ancient Sita Lakshmana Kodandarama temple. As the regular prayers would begin in the mornings, the temple priest visited the sanctum sanctorum to perform pooja in the temple. To his utter shock, the doors of the temple were found broken and the idol of the God inside the sanctum sactorum was found headless. After the Police were called on immediately, most odf the severed parts of the idol has been retained from the surrounding pond. A case has been registered with the police in this regard.
After repeated attacks, the opposition parties are now raising their fingers at the Reddy government and its ignorance to the Hindu places of worship being under siege in its state. “ “ Hindus and Hindu sentiments have been frequently hurt, The government led by Jagan Reddy is to be blamed for this. Attacks on temples have become a daily occurrence, because of the government’s indifference. Neither the public nor the gods inside the temple are safe in the state. Matters would have come this far if stern action was taken in the first such case. The government has the responsibility to safeguard sentiments of all communities”, said the former Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
Last year, in February, a 50-foot-high ancient chariot of the Prasanna Venkateswara Swamy temple in the Bhogolu village of Bitragunta Mandal in the Nellore district was set on fire by some miscreants. A month earlier, in January, the idols of many Hindu gods and goddesses were vandalised along with several flex banners in the town of Pithapuram in the East Godavari district. In a related occurrence that occurred a few months ago,