Tirumala temple priest A.V. Ramana Deekshitulu on Monday was criticised for his alleged social media post in which he reportedly made controversial remarks against the top brass of the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) and sought the intervention of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in ‘saving’ the temple.
In an apparent bid to corner the TTD and the State government, he chose X (formerly Twitter) to vent his dissatisfaction at a time when Mr. Modi was on a visit to the temple town.
In a tweet on Monday, Mr. Deekshitulu said that the hill temple was in the clutches of ‘non-sanatani’ (who do not follow the Sanatana Dharma) officers and government as well, who he alleged were systematically destroying the ancient traditions, structures and assets of TTD temples. In the same tweet, he also urged Mr. Modi to “save the temple and establish a Hindu rashtra”.
Condemning his remarks, social media users reminded him of a police complaint lodged against him by his own son and questioned him about the ‘pink diamond’ - a jewel which he had alleged a few years ago was stolen from the presiding deity’s necklace.
They also trolled him for making a vain bid to gain re-entry into the temple while others criticised him for making huge money by way of frequent visits to the houses of prominent industrialists in chartered flights.
Perturbed by the spate of criticism, Mr. Deekshitulu later deleted his tweet.
