The death of seven devotees in a wall collapse on queue line at Simhachalam temple in Visakhapatnam in the early hours of Wednesday has come as a yet another opportunity for the opposition Congress party to take a dig at the Chandrababu Naidu government and gain some political advantage.
Of course, it is nothing but natural for the opposition party to use such incidents to their political advantage. In fact, YSRCP president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had to face similar political criticism in the past, when he was the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh.
Jagan came under sharp attack from the Telugu Desam Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party when there were incidents like burning of chariot at Antarvedi temple and vandalization of Sri Ram idol at Ramatirtham temple in Visakhapatnam during his regime.
The then opposition attributed such incidents to Jagan’s Christian faith and alleged that because of his non-belief in the Hinduism, his government had not taken any action against the culprits.
The TDP and its alliance partners also accused Jagan of encouraging Christian propaganda in Tirumala, appointing non-Hindus in TTD and also for being responsible for the supply of adulterated ghee for making laddus in Tirumala.
Now, it is the turn of Jagan to shoot back at the TDP and its allies. While Jagan took the Naidu government to task for the stampede incident at Tirupati in January, the Simhachalam incident came as a big opportunity to mount the attack.
Soon after wall collapse incident at Simhachalam, the YSRCP jumped into fray and started releasing pictures and videos to the media.
It also pointed out how hurriedly the temple authorities constructed the wall without following the quality that led to the collapse.
Jagan was quick in issuing a statement in condoling the deaths of the devotees. Within no time, he announced that he would be flying to Visakhapatnam this afternoon to offer his condolences to the families of the devotees who tragically lost their lives.
He would meet the bereaved families to express his heartfelt sympathies. One can easily guess what he is going to say after his visit!
