This letter was forwarded to me. Familiar
tactics by church builders, only now they are probably better funded than
at any time in history- Chitra
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Came across this article in a local publication (which publishes religious and spiritual articles) about plans going on in building a church in Tirumala (up in Tirumala and not Tirupati). In fact the article said already there are 7 churches in Tirupati. The CM of AP Mr. Y. Samuel Rajashekar Reddy (who converted to Christianity ) is providing all the support for the same from the government, which manages the whole temple through T.T.D (the trust which manages all the temples at Tirumala and Tirupati).
As a step towards this, they have already converted the Executive Officer of T.T.D into a christian (again, this officer is appointed by the government itself). The plans came to light when 100 acres of land, up in Tirumala, was put to auction by this executive officer and these Christian missionaries started bidding for it.
The question was, why are they trying to sell the land while the temple is not at all in need of any money? Even if the temple needed money, there are FDs from T.T.D worth more than 15,000 crores in various banks, which can be withdrawn at any time. Over the years, it was a guideline followed by T.T.D not to sell any land to anyone. They used to lease the land for different Mathas (like our Kashi Matha) and Chathras. The lease period was not more than 30 years which needed renewal after it expired. This being the case, why would they sell the land now?
The whole article was based on what was published in a daily newspaper in AP called "Andhra Jyothi". Even when the British were in power (pre-Independence), they did not dare to come to Tirupati/Tirumala with their conversion plans. But now, with the help of our own people, they are crossing all the limits of toleration. We need to spread this awareness amoung all our people so that this can be stopped if possible. So, I humbly request all of you to post this message in all the religious forums you have access to and spread this shocking news.
Report in The Hindustan Times dated 26th July 2005 states:
MINEAPOLIS: Opposing the construction of a church at the sacred Tirumala Hills, 23 Indo- American organizations in Houston have urged Prine Minister Manmohan Singh to ask the Andhra Pradesh Government to maintain the sanctity of the religious place which is a holy shrine for the Hindus world over. Agitated by media reports from India that the AP government was actively considering the application of a religious society to build a church atop the Tirumala Hills, the abode of Lord Venkateshvara, these Indo-American organizations held an emergency meeting at Houston on 16th July to discuss the issue. The meeting decided to send a representation to the Prime Minister.
This has come in The Hindu also:
http://www.hindu.com/2005/07/01/stories/2005070106830400.htm