TTD Chairman Says Only Hindus in Tirumala but Centre Wants Non-Muslims in Waqf Boards: Owaisi

Hyderabad: AIMIM chief and MP Asaduddin Owaisi raked up the issue of proposed appointment of non-Muslims members to the Waqf board, by comparing it with the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) Board which will have only Hindus as its staff members.

He said that TTD has mandated the appointment of only Hindu members to its board then why can't the central Waqf Council have only Muslim members on religion grounds.

Drawing parallel between the TTD, a temple body responsible for managing the Tirupati temple in Andhra Pradesh, and the Waqf Board, Owaisi said, "TTD is a board of the Hindu religion and Waqf Board is for the Muslim religion. There should be parity...When the trustees of TTD cannot be Muslims, how will a non-Muslim member be on the Waqf Board?..."

"...Not even a single member of the 24 members of TTD Board (Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams) is a non-Hindu...The new Chairman of TTD says that the people working there should be Hindu...We are not against this, we just have an objection to the fact that Narendra Modi 's government is saying in the proposed bill of Waqf that in the central Waqf Council, it has been made mandatory that 2 non-Muslims members should be there...Why are you bringing this provision in the Waqf bill?," he added.

Taking to X, the AIMIM MP on Friday night wrote, “Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams’ chairman says that only Hindus should work in Tirumala. But Modi govt wants to make it mandatory for there to be non-Muslims in Waqf Boards & Waqf Council. Most Hindu Endowment laws insist that only Hindus should be its members. What is good for the goose should be good for the gander, no? (sic)”

The Hyderabad MP's remarks came days after TTD's newly-appointed chairman BR Naidu announced the appointment of only Hindu-members to the 24-member board. Naidu on Thursday, October 31, made it clear that all those who work at Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, should be Hindus.

"Everyone who works at Tirumala should be Hindu. That would be my first effort. There are many issues in this. We have to look into that," Naidu has said.

Notably, the Tirumala temple or the Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple, found itself at the centre of a storm over the adulteration allegation in its 'prasadam'.

BR Naidu, who alleged that many irregularities took place at Tirumala during the previous YSR Congress regime, said the sanctity of the temple should be safeguarded.