Keep Gods away from politics: Supreme Court slams Andhra govt over Tirupati laddoo row

A top court bench comprising Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan rapped Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu for making public utterances even after ordering a probe into the findings of a Gujarat laboratory report that alleged animal fat was used to make laddoos which are offered as devotion to the deities.

The top court said as quoted by NDTV, "When you (the Chief Minister) hold a Constitutional post... we expect Gods to be kept away from politics. If you had already ordered (an) investigation, what was the need to go to the press? The lab report came in July... your statement came in September. (And) the report is not at all clear..."

It added, "You ordered an SIT (special investigation team). Till the outcome (of the inquiry) what was the need to go to the press? You have been always appearing for such... this is the second time," Justice Gavai rapped the Andhra Pradesh government. His colleague asked sharply, "Unless you were sure (about the adulteration), how did you go to public? What (then) was the purpose of investigation?"

The row erupted when Naidu slammed his predecessor and YSR Congress chief YS Jagan Mohan Reddy over a lab report showing animal fats in ghee used to make laddoos offered as prasad, or devotional offerings, at the temple town of Tirupati.

According to a July 17 report from the Centre of Analysis and Learning in Livestock and Food (CALF) lab at the center-run National Dairy Development Board in Gujarat, released Wednesday, it was found that animal fat was used in ghee, which is one of the ingredients, to make the famous Tirupati laddoos when the YSRCP was in power.

The report stated that the ghee contained traces of fish oil, beef tallow, and lard, the latter of which is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.

"Even Tirupati laddoo was made with substandard ingredients... they used animal fat instead of ghee," the Chief Minister said at a legislature party meeting in Amravati on Wednesday.

He declared his government was making sure that a higher quality of ingredients was being used, including that of ghee, and that all food offerings at the iconic temple were now of improved quality.

In his first reaction since the controversy broke Wednesday, Jagan Mohan Reddy slammed the "false report", and accused Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his TDP of "using faith for politics".