Lord Balaji's Tirupati is changing from being democratic to denying civil liberties

On the morning of February 12, several sadhus sat on a fast unto death near the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) administrative building in Tirupati, demanding the revocation of permission given to a five-star hotel named ‘Mumtaz Hotel’ at the foot of the Tirumala hill nearby.

Though many hotels in the region are run by Muslims, this is the first time sadhus in Tirupati protested against a hotel because it was to be run by Muslims.

Exactly four days prior to the February 12 protest, another shocking incident took place in Tirupati. Two stalls were attacked at a book exhibition organised by the Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan near Alipiri in the town. Following the attack, a shop selling a book which argued that there are things that Hindus should know about Islam had to be closed. Books written by Periyar EV Ramasamy Naicker had to be removed from another stall.

Not used to such attacks, Tirupati witnessed protests against the violence unleashed at book stalls. Writers, artists and intellectuals protested the attack on books.

The Tirupati metropolitan area, with a population of about 6,74,000 (Census Report 2025 Estimate), is peaceful, with 98% of Tirupati’s population being Hindu. The Muslim population is 6.05%. Christians are a nominal 0.74%.

About 70,000 people come to Tirupati every day from across Andhra Pradesh and beyond to visit Lord Venkateswara Swamy in Tirumala. Despite such a huge influx of pilgrims, Tirupati has always remained peaceful. Religious sloganeering as a means to offend has remained unheard of with only the chants to invoke Namo Venkatesha, Edu Kondalawada, Venkataraman, Govinda, Govinda reverberating the air.

But things have changed with slogans targeted at a religion being raised. Attacks have also started on books that express a divergent view. Is this a temporary phenomenon caused by stray incidents and stray actors, or is Tirupati also becoming a city where faith stands in conflict with other faiths.

What is Mumtaz Hotel?

In the past, the Chandrababu Naidu government leased a large tract of land to a private person for a project — Devalokam — in the reserve forest area at the foot of the Tirupati hill. This was opposed by the forest officials as forest land here is not allowed to be diverted for construction. However, the forest here was destroyed after land was exempted and the Devalokam project was given permission. The Devalokam project is a park that is being set up to build models of all the famous Hindu temples in the country. This lease went to a person with great political influence. This miniature temple complex was given permission for this project on the pretext of increasing tourism in Tirupati.

Most devotees who come to Tirupati rarely visit any other place except the temples on the Balaji temple complex. The effort to cut down the forest and build ‘Devalokam’ in the name of tourism in such a situation was ironic. As a result, the project was put on the backburner after Chandrababu Naidu lost power in 2019. YSR Congress Party leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who came to power in 2019, stalled the project.

Naidu leased a portion of the land to the Mumtaz Hotel management for 94 years. According to this agreement signed in 2022, a five-star hotel with 100 rooms is to be built here by 2026. Strangely, no one knows who the owner of this hotel is. The construction of the hotel did not proceed during Jagan's tenure as chief minister. But when Naidu became the Chief Minister again in 2024, Devalokam Promoters claimed that this land belongs to them and demanded that the Mumtaz Hotel agreement be cancelled and handed over to them. It is in this context that the Andhra Pradesh Sadhu Parishad held a protest demonstration against the agreement made with Mumtaz Hotel.

Tirupati is losing its communal harmony

The Devalokam protests, however, cannot be seen in isolation. Many are concerned that the communal harmony of Tirupati town is increasingly coming under threat. Tirupati is a unique city in the country. Lakhs of devotees of Lord Venkateswara go to Tirumala through Tirupati. There is a temple of Lord Venkateswara's brother, Sri Govindarajaswamy, too in the town. A large temple tank stands next to the temple. There are Sri Venkateswara University, Sri Venkateswara Arts College, Sri Govindarajaswamy Degree College (SGS College), Sri Venkateswara Oriental College, an art college, and a music college in Tirupati. Except for the university, everything else is under the control of the TTD Board, and people of all religions used to work in these institutions. Most famous teachers in these institutions were progressives, atheists, rationalists, and communists. Nagasiddha Reddy, who was once the principal of Tirupati Oriental College, is the president of the State Atheist Association and the Rationalist Association.

Similarly, two teachers who worked at Sri Govindaraja Swamy Arts College (SGS) were well-known activists in the state. One of them was Tripuraneni Madhusudhan Rao, a Marxist philosopher. The other was a famous writer Bhuman. Another lecturer at Tirupati Degree College, Nagula Veeraiah, was a rationalist activist. All of them were teachers who greatly inspired the students of that day. Some of them became Naxalites after being inspired by their lectures. However, they never had any conflict with TTD. Tripuraneni Madhusudhan Rao once said in a meeting that TTD was the highest of all Hindu religious institutions in the country. There were Christians and Muslims among the employees of TTD. Their appointments were never objected to. An employee shared that TTD had preserved all the values of Visistadvaita, a Hindu philosophy of “qualified non-dualism” that was propounded by the 11th century philosopher Ramanuja.

Communist meetings on Koneti Katta

Govinda Rajaswamy Koneti Katta in Tirupati has been a witness to many political and civil protests and meetings, as well as communist movements. This Koneti Katta, located in the middle of the city, is the venue for any political meeting in Tirupati. All prominent communist leaders have opposed governments from this platform, and have exposed the superstitions of Hinduism. They taught revolutionary politics. They condemned fake encounters. Atheist and rationalist meetings used to be held in the TTT spaces of Tirupati town. Govinda Namasmarana and Inquilab Zindabad were heard alongside in the city reflecting the virtues of tolerance. Before 1969, there was communist dominance in this area. After the Naxalbari movement, that is after 1969, revolutionary communist parties took root here.

Teachers who went to jail during the Emergency

In 1975, when Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency, the Radical Students Union was strong in Tirupati. Some say that the organization was even born in Tirupati. At first, they thought it was the Revolutionary Students Union, but later, the famous writer Bhuman said that the word "radical" should be added to the name "revolution".

After Emergency was declared, Tripuraneni Madhusudhan Rao and Bhuman, along with Bhumana Karunakar Reddy and Shailakumar, members of the Radical Students Union, were arrested. After the Emergency was lifted, Tripureneni and Bhuman, who were released from jail, were hired by the TTD. After 1977, the Radical Students Union became strong in all educational centres. Virasam meetings were held in Tirupati. Communist activities continued all the time. Other leftist student organisations (AISF, SFI, PDSU) were also strong at one time. “Marxist intellectual Tripuraneni Madhusudana Rao, who came to Tirupati as a lecturer from Krishna district, brought two other ideas. One was atheism and the other was rationalism. Despite his ideology being against Hindutva, Tirupati and TTD welcomed Tripuraneni. It was Tirupati that helped him grow as a great teacher,” says noted writer Aluru Raghav Sharma (Raghava). “Poet Samrat Vishwanatha Satyanarayana made anti-Bible comments while working at Guntur AC College. He was expelled from that college. The TTD received a warning from the government that if Tripuraneni Madhusudana Rao, who was teaching revolutionary politics, was not removed from his job, funds would be stopped. TTD did not heed the government’s warning. That was the TTD’s strength at that time,” said Raghava.

Another intellectual, Bhuman, said that there was a kind of intolerance in Tirupati. Bhuman was known as a great writer and orator. He worked as a political science lecturer at SGS College and retired. He is said to be one of the founders of the Radical Students’ Union. He was in jail throughout the Emergency. “Many communist intellectuals, lawyers and writers were arrested from Tirupati. In jail, we also had Rashtriya Swayam Sevak (RSS) activists like Pati Surya Prakash Reddy, Jupudi Yagnanarayana, Venkaiah Naidu, V Rama Rao. Even though we did not share any ideological ground, we had friendship. There was mutual respect. That continued after we came out of jail,” said Bhuman.

CITU leader and TTD employee association leader Kandarapu Murali praised the secular nature of Tirupati and TTD. “For decades, TTD has had employees of all religions. There was never any objection. Similarly, Dalit intellectuals like Kathi Padma Rao gave atheist speeches against Hindutva ideology from Tirupati. Communist leaders like Namboodiripad, IK Nayanar, P Sundarayya participated in public meetings from places in front of temples. There was never any opposition. The atmosphere of harmony in Tirupati that has been going on for the past hundred years is now waning,” said Kandarapu Murali.

Dalit and Buddhist scholar Kathi Padmarao said that the reason behind the secular nature of Tirupati is the Reddy-Kamma caste feud. Kathi Padmarao has addressed at least 20 public meetings from the Koneti Kattamedi in Tirupati, saying that the superstition that there is no God should be ignored. Kathi Padmarao has been a great orator since the advent of Dalitism. His lectures were well-known in those days. Tirupati students used to come here in droves. "It is sad that some people in the name of Hindutva are attacking bookstores in Tirupati. The politics of intolerance is not recognised in Tirupati. This may be a temporary act,” he expressed hope. He said that the saffron atmosphere in Tirupati is due to the conflict between the Reddy and the Kammas. “The Reds are more prevalent in this area. There is no Kamma population in the Chittoor area to counter this dominance. Therefore, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu seems to be working to mobilize the Hindu population against the Reds and to claim that he is the reformer of Tirumala Tirupati. That is why it seems that Tirupati is being saffronized,” said Dr. Padma Rao (Senior Fellow, ICSSR).

Moreover, Dr. Padma Rao also expressed suspicion that this saffronization is being promoted to prevent the looting of Tirupati’s wealth and TTD’s wealth from being seen.

Last Saturday, there was also strong opposition among intellectuals over the forcible removal of Periyar’s books from the Visalandhra book counter. Several writers, intellectuals, lawyers, and civil society activists condemned the incident at a roundtable discussion held the next day.

What happened at the book exhibition?

An eyewitness and Tirupati Public Awareness Forum president Vaka Prasad explained what happened at the book exhibition held at Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan Tirupati. “Some people went to the Manujyoti Bookshop set up at the exhibition and saw the book Islam For Hindus written by Arvind Sharma. Sharma mentions in this book that there are things that Hindus should know about Islam. The miscreants argued that this book should not be sold. Then they tore the Children’s Bible that was there. Some people began hurling obscenities and arguing while others started taking videos. While this fight was going on, an exhibition officer came and closed the book shop. Later, this mob went to the counter of Visalandhra Publishing House and questioned how Periyar’s book could be sold. They argued that Periyar was anti-Hindu and his books should not be sold. Immediately, Visalandhra removed Periyar’s books to discourage trouble. Similarly, they accused the shopkeepers of bringing Ramayana Vishavruksham written by Ranganayakamma 50 years ago. Then they left shouting Jai Shri Ram,” said Vaka Prasad.

Saffronisation has hit Tirupati hard. A small incident is evidence of this. At the book exhibition, No one came forward to release the book ‘Tirupati Balaji was a Buddhist Shrine’ written by Dr. Jamanadas. Initially, a proposal was made to release this book from the stage at the exhibition. No one was willing to do this. Finally, the book was released at a programme held at Ambedkar Bhavan. This book was translated into Telugu by a poet named AN Nageswara Rao. According to Jamanadas, the Tirumala temple originated from Buddhism. The Tirumala temple is related to Avalokiteshwara, the counterpart of Buddha in Mahayana Buddhism. Jamanadas said that this later fell into the hands of Hindus and became a Balaji temple.

Another prominent author and Kendra Sahitya Akademi Awardee Madhurantakam Narendra expressed concern over this development. “The events in Tirupati have caused serious concern. The search for truth is possible only when opposing views are understood. There is an atmosphere of fear just for speaking the truth. We should speak out against this,” said Dr. Narendra while addressing a round table held on Sunday. Another author, general secretary of the Progressive Writers’ Association, Valluri Sivaprasad, also condemned the ongoing attack on books. “A book that is not banned can be sold anywhere. It can be bought. It can be read. “It is unconstitutional to argue that a book that is not banned should not be sold unless one likes it,” he said.