A controversy has erupted following the appointment of non-Hindus in a school run by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD) in Tamil Nadu. Following protests, the school education department has withdrawn the appointment. Hindus alleged that the appointment was made without the approval of TTD.
The centuries-old Sri Venkateswara Higher Secondary School in Vellore is run by the Tirupati Devasthanam with aid from the TN government. It appears that it has the linguistic minority institution status and thus has autonomy in administration even though it receives government aid. Currently, 28 teachers work in the school and more than 1000 students study there.
Being an aided minority school, the school management, TTD has full authority in selecting and appointing teachers. But it has to get the approval of the school education department to ensure government salary. In this case, the school education department automatically appointed 3 surplus teachers from other government-aided minority schools in the Vellore district to fill the vacant positions at Venkateswara Higher Secondary School.
Principal-in-charge Napoleon reportedly allowed the new teachers to take charge without informing TTD. As all the 3 teachers were Christians, local Hindus and Hindu teachers already working in the school opposed the move as it is against the rules of TTD which mandates that only Hindus can be employed in the institution. Despite this Principal Napoleon allegedly allowed the teachers to work and sign in the attendance register for 2 days.
However other Hindu staff protested against it and didn’t allow them to sign the register. Tamil daily Dinamalar, which reported the incident, talked to the Principal. As per the report, he said, “We are planning to ask the TTD Executive Officer to grant special permission to allow non-Hindu teachers. We are taking measures for that”.
After the issue blew up, he wrote to the District Chief Education Officer(DCEO) informing him that he cannot independently approve the appointment without the Correspondent’s permission. His letter further said that the 3 Christian teachers will be allowed to work after obtaining permission and that till then they should be sent back to work in their previous institution.
Meanwhile, Hindu activists planned to meet TTD board members and appeal to them to remove the non-Hindu teachers. But it appears that TTD got wind of the issue and issued a statement saying that after the school education department was informed that non-Hindus cannot be appointed in its institutions the department withdrew the appointment order.
TTD itself is mired in controversies due to CM Jagan Mohan Reddy’s anti-Hindu moves. Subba Reddy, uncle of Jegan and the current President of TTD is alleged to be a devout Christian. Accusations of crypto Christians being appointed as TTD employees often surface in the media. Telugu media reported that Ms. Snehalatha, Deputy Executive Officer in TTD’s Welfare Department, never took ‘Prasadam’ but used her official car to attend church. Another employee Rajasekhar Rao, Assistant Executive Officer (AEO) of the Sri Venkateswara (SV) group of temples and in charge of the Hundi counting department in the Tirupati temple was a Christian despite the fact that officially he declared himself Hindu.
In 2019, devotees were shocked to find the term ‘Sri Yesaiah’ in the annual calendar released by TTD on its official website. Earlier 3 pages referring to Jesus Christ and Christianity were found in a book uploaded under the ‘e-books’ category on the official website. There was another controversy when advertisements about pilgrimages to Jerusalem and Haj were found in tickets issued in state-run buses plying to Tirumala. Considering this history TTD might not be against employing non-Hindus and the issue of appointing teachers might have gone unnoticed if not for Hindus raising their voices.
