Govinda…Govinda…these are the chants that are heard when devotees enter the holy shrine of Tirumala to seek blessings of Lord Balaji. Instead of Govinda’s chant, for the first time, an individual’s name echoed on temple premises at the temple Mahadawaram after Vendi Vaakili.

Jai Jagan was the chant that irked devotees present at Srivari temple in Tirumala in the early hours of Wednesday. Jagan who arrived at the temple to seek blessings of Lord Venkateshwara Swamy temple was surrounded by 60 of his followers who hailed Jagan in loud tone. Jagan stayed at the temple for about two hours.

On the other side devotees were in panic after looking at the highhandedness of the security personnel of YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

If we look into details, Jaganmohan Reddy who arrived in Tirumala on Tuesday night has entered the Vaikuntam queue complex-1 (the VIP entry to holy shrine). Irrespective of how special or important the devotee/candidate is, there’s a rule in temple that an individual should enter the temple only after he/she gets a call from the priests after ringing the temple bell for offering naivedhyam. Jagan violated this rule and entered the temple.  He directly entered the temple and sat at Ranganayakula mantapam along with his followers. No temple official questioned them for sitting there like that for a couple of minutes.

As soon as VIP darshan started, 60 members joined the line and pushed among themselves till they reached dwajastambam (temple’s holy pillar).

The moment they completed having glimpse of the deity, they came out and at temple mahadwaram and raised slogans “Jai Jagan, Jai Jagan.” The nearby priests touched their cheeks as a sign of witnessing something unholy and said Govinda Govinda.

Outside the temple, the security personnel of Jagan showed over-action. His convoy that started right outside the temple went up to Balaji Nagar in Tirumala and along the way he campaigned for by-polls.

It may be noted that election campaigning is banned on Tirumala hills. So far no politician took out election campaign so loud that too in Tirumala, which has reportedly shocked the public.

The TTD officials, on the other hand, were unable to control the followers of Jagan who accompanied him during his visit to temple.  There was not even a single instance wherein TTD overlooked its rules when it came to VIP darshan. But, it Jagan case TTD failed to implement the strict rules that led to debates among several political circles in the state.

Also, Jagan failed to give declaration before entering the temple. According to the rules of the temple any non-Hindu VIP visiting the temple would be required to give a declaration that he/she has trust in God.  TTD EO L V Subramanyam has made it clear that Jagan was told by TTD officials to give declaration. He has said that Jagan’s followers denied the same stating that Jagan already visited once in 2009 and the question of giving declaration doesn’t arise. The EO has assured that the officials would look into the issue and get back to the media.

People in the state were literally astonished when they got to know about slogan shouting at Tirumala Mahadwaram. This act of Jagan would apparently cost YSR Congress dearly in the by-polls to 18 assembly constituencies. (Phani)